28th  Congress, 
1.9/  Session. 


{SENATE.] 


[  179  ] 


3  ro 


MEMORIAL 


OF 

A  NUMBER  OF  CITIZENS  OF  CINCINNATI,  OHIO, 

FRAYING 

The  removal  of  obstructions  in  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Missis¬ 
sippi  rivers. 


March  12,  1844. 

Laid  on  the  table,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


PUBLIC  MEETINGS. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  committee  of  the  citizens  of  Cincinnati,  held  on  22d 
January,  1844,  it  was 

Resolved ,  That  a  new  edition  of  the  memorial  of  last  year,  with  such 
additions  as  subsequent  information  and  experience  may  have  rendered 
advisable,  be  prepared  forthwith,  and  transmitted  to  Congress. 

JAMES  HALL,  Chairman. 

Henry  Hayes,  Secretary. 

A  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Cincinnati,  for  the  purpose  of  memo¬ 
rializing  Congress  on  the  subject  of  removing  the  obstructions  from  the 
Western  waters,  was  held  at  the  council  chamber  on  Friday  evening,  No¬ 
vember  4,  1842 - — M ica j a h  T.  Williams,  Esq.,  chairman,  Joseph  Graham, 
secretary. 

On  motion  of  James  Hall,  Esq.,  the  following  gentlemen  were  appointed 
a  committee  to  draught  a  memorial  to  Congress  : 

James  Hall,  T.  J.  Halderman,  E.  S.  Haines,.  Paul  Anderson,  E.  D.  Mans¬ 
field,  J.  C.  Vaughan,  J.  G.  Woodin,  Lewis  Whiteman,  S.  W.  Hartshorne, 
P.  Rogers,  George  Carlisle,  Robert  Buchanan,  Joseph  Pierce,  sr.,  Jede- 
diah  Banks,  Henry  Hayes,  M.  T.  Williams,  and  George  Graham,  jr. 

Resolved ,  That  the  same  committee  be  authorized  to  correspond  with 
any  committees  that  may  be  appointed  at  other  places  in  the  West,  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  improvement  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  with  a  view  to 
procure  a  concert  of  action  among  the  friends  of  the  measure  ;  and  also  to 
correspond  with  members  of  Congress  and  other  influential  persons,  whose 
co-operation  may  be  desirable  or  necessary  ;  and  that  the  said  committee  be 
fully  authorized  to  adopt  all  measures  which,  in  their  opinion,  may  be  ex¬ 
pedient  for  the  promotion  of  the  important  object  of  the  meeting. 

Resolved ,  That  the  said  committee  be  authorized  to  call  an  adjourned 
meeting  of  the  citizens,  for  the  purpose  of  reporting  said  memorial  when 
ready  for  signatures. 

M.  T.  WILLIAMS,  Chairman . 

Joseph  Graham,  Secretary . 


2 


[  179  ] 


At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Cincinnati,  held  21st  December  1842,. 
Lewis  Whiteman,  Esq.,  was  appointed  chairman,  and  Henry  Hayes  sec¬ 
retary. 

Judge  Hall,  from  the  committee  appointed  on  the  4th  ultimo,  reported 
the  draught  of  a  memorial  to  Congress,  on  the  subject  of  the  navigation  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  ;  whereupon,  the  following  resolutions  were 
unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved ,  That  the  memorial  just  read  be  adopted  ;  that  it  be  signed  by 
the  committee  which  reported  it,  printed,  and  transmitted  to  Congress 
through  our  immediate  representatives  in,  that  body. 

Resolved,  That  copies  of  the  memorial  be  transmitted  to  the  several 
State  Legislatures  now  in  session,  by  the  same  committee,  with  a  view  to 
procure  the  sanction  of  those  bodies  to  the  views  expressed  therein. 

LEWIS  WHITEMAN,  Chairman. 

Henry  Hayes,  Secretary. 


To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  in 

Congress  assembled : 

The  memorial  of  the  people  of  Cincinnati,  in  the  State  of  Ohio, 
Represents  as  follows  :  n 

Your  memorialists,  in  common  with  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western 
and  Southwestern  States,  are  deeply  interested  in  the  trade  and  navigation 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers.  Inhabiting  a  country  of  great  magni¬ 
tude  and  unsurpassed  fertility,  rich  in  all  the  products  of  nature  and  of 
unbounded  resources,  our  commerce,  already  great,  is  daily  swelling  in 
value  and  importance.  The  plain  of  the  Mississippi,  extending  from  the 
29th  to  the  47th  degree  of  north  latitude,  embraces  not  only  all  the  pro¬ 
ductions  of  the  temperate  zone,  but  many  of  those  of  the  frigid  regions  of 
the  north  and  of  the  sunny  climate  of  the  tropic  ;  so  that  those  who  inhabit 
the  shores  of  this  gigantic  river  and  its  tributaries  carry  on  already  an  in¬ 
terchange  of  domestic  products  and  manufactures,  which  in  itself  consti¬ 
tutes  a  most  extensive  traffic,  and  includes  a  great  variety  of  the  staples  of 
commerce.  But  when  to  this  is  added  all  that  we  export  to  foreign  markets 
and  import  for  home  consumption,  the  variety  and  value  of  this  immense 
internal  trade  will  be  found  to  assume  an  importance  which  should  recom¬ 
mend  it  to  the  serious  attention  of  the  American  people  and  the  National 
Government. 

In  estimating  the  importance  of  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Missis¬ 
sippi  rivers,  it  is  necessary  to  invite  attention  to  a  few  prominent  facts, 
which  we  shall  collect  from  the  most  authentic  sources.  The  region  drained 
by  those  rivers  and  their  tributaries  extends  from  the  29th  to  the  47th  de¬ 
gree  of  north  latitude,  and  from  the  Allegany  to  the  Rocky  mountains; 
and  the  portion  of  that  territory  already  inhabited  and  organized  under 
civil  government  may  be  stated,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  in  round  num¬ 
bers,  as  embracing  an  average  length  from  north  to  south  of  12  degrees,  and 
a  breadth  of  10  degrees,  which  would  give  an  area  of  432,000  square  miles. 
And  it  is  worthyof  remark,  that  such  is  the  wonderful  fertility  of  this  country, 
its  mineral  wealth,  its  abundant  resources,  and  its  advantages  of  climate  and 
navigation,  and  so  great  are  the  enterprise  of  its  people  and  the  increase  of 
population  from  abroad,  that  any  rational  statement  of  its  limits  or  its  wealth. 


3 


[  179  ] 

founded  upon  evidence,  must  fall  far  short  of  the  truth.  It  is  a  new  coun¬ 
try,  imbued  with  all  the  characteristics  of  a  vigorous  youth,  and  possessing 
extraordinary  elements  of  expansion  and  improvement.  Every  day  is  ex¬ 
tending  its  limits,  filling  up  its  vacant  places,  and  developing  its  latent  re¬ 
sources  ;  and  not  a  season  passes  which  does  not  open  some  new  channel 
of  commerce  or  some  hidden  source  of  wealth.  Every  thing  is  growing 
and  changing,  ripening  and  increasing ;  and  any  collection  of  statistics,  in 
regard  to  such  a  country,  must  fall  short  of  the  reality,  because  our  data 
must  be  taken  from  the  records  of  the  past,  and  we  must  lose  the  accumu¬ 
lations  which  are  rapidly  growing  up  around  us. 

The  region  in  question  is  no  less  than  the  great  West,  a  wilderness  fifty 
years  ago,  but  now  an  important  integral  portion  of  a  great  nation.  It 
contains  nine  States  and  two  Territories,  and  parts  of  two  other  States. 
The  aggregate  population  of  all  the  States  and  Territories  bordering  on  the 
navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  is  8,437,779  ;  or,  if  we  include  only 
one-third  of  the  population  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  for  the  portion 
residing  west  of  the  Allegany  mountains,  we  have  an  aggregate  of 
6,46 1, S92,  which  is  a  little  over  one-third  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  We  approach  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  then,  with  a  claim 
in  which,  under  the  most  narrow  view  of  the  subject,  one-third  of  the 
American  people  are  obviously  and  directly  interested,  and  in  W'hich  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  the  population  of  the  Union  are  interested,  if  we  include  the  whole 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  States  which  border  on  those  rivers.  But  we  hold 
this  to  be  a  very  inadequate  view  of  the  question  of  interest;  for  such  is 
the  magnitude  of  our  trade,  and  the  intimacy  of  our  relations  with  the  At¬ 
lantic  States,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  corner  of  the  Union  which  is  not  bound 
to  us  by  a  constant  and  reciprocal  interchange  of  commercial  advantages* 
Three  of  the  Atlantic  States  have  been  engaged  for  years  in  rival  exertions 
to  secure  the  advantages  of  the  Western  trade,  and  have  expended  millions 
of  treasure  in  the  endeavor  to  attract  that  trade  to  their  respective  sea  ports. 
Another  great  State  has  recently  embarked  in  the  same  patriotic  contest, 
with  a  spirit  which  shows  how  high  an  estimate  is  placed  upon  the  prize. 
Which  of  these  States  is  not  directly  interested  in  the  transportation  of  mer¬ 
chandise  throughout  the  whole  length  of  our  Western  rivers  ?  Which  of 
them  can  view  with  indifference  a  question  that  involves  the  facility,  the 
safety,  and  the  cheapness  of  navigation,  upon  these  great  channels  of  com¬ 
merce  ?  After  constructing,  by  the  most  lavish  expenditure,  railroads,  turn¬ 
pikes,  and  canals,  leading  to  the  West,  does  their  pecuniary  interest,  cease, 
and  their  patriotism  die  at  the  termini  of  their  gigantic  works  ;  and  have 
they  no  further  concern  in  the  merchandise  or  the  passenger  which  has 
passed  their  boundaries  ?  These  questions  are  easily  answered.  Those 
who  purchase  our  products  are  interested  in  every  tax  upon  our  industry, 
and  they  who  supply  us  with  foreign  merchandise  or  manufactured  articles 
that  we  consume  are  concerned  in  all  the  facilities  for  transportation,  by 
which  their  market  is  rendered  accessible.  Whatever  affects  the  cost  of 
freight  and  insurance  concerns  all  mutually  who  participate  in  the  inter¬ 
change  of  commodities. 

Of  the  millions  of  property  floating  annually  upon  the  Western  waters, 
much  is  owned  directly  by  citizens  of  the  Atlantic  States;  and  of  the  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands  of  passengers  who  crowd  our  steamboats,  a  vast  number 
are  inhabitants  of  those  States,  who  are  drawn  hither  by  business,  by  cu¬ 
riosity,  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  or  in  the  search  of  a  new  home.  The 


4 


[  ] 

subject,  then,  is  not  one  of  local  concern  or  sectional  character;  and  in  ask¬ 
ing  Congress  to  expend  a  liberal  portion  of  the  public  treasure  in  remov¬ 
ing  the  obstructions  from  our  great  Western  highways,  we  believe  that  we 
represent  the  wants  and  interests  not  merely  of  eleven  States  and  two  Ter¬ 
ritories,  but  of  the  American  people .  We  invite  the  patronage  of  the  na¬ 
tion  to  a  great  central  chain  of  national  intercommunication,  which  per¬ 
vades  nearly  the  whole  Union,  having  its  connexions  with  the  ocean  through 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  New  Orleans,  and  ex¬ 
tending  its  advantages  westwardly,  throughout  the  wilderness,  to  the  ex¬ 
treme  frontier. 

Every  tax  upon  the  products  of  the  country  must  be  paid  either  by  the 
producer  or  the  consumer,  or  it  must  be  divided  between  them ;  and  what¬ 
ever  adds  to  the  cost  of  our  imports,  it  is  so  much  taken  in  some  shape  from 
the  pockets  of  the  seller  or  buyer.  Where  these  burdens  are  of  such  a 
character  as  to  afford  employment  to  a  portion  of  our  population,  it  is  some 
consolation  to  know  that  what  is  taken  from  one  class  is  given  to  another ; 
but  such  is  not  the  form  of  the  tax  upon  our  commerce,  which  forms  the 
subject  of  this  memorial.  We  deplore  the  loss,  the  utter  annihilation  of 
property.  We  deprecate  the  existence  of  obstructions  in  our  navigation, 
which  cause  unnecessary  expense  by  delay,  by  destruction  of  property,  by 
risk,  and  consequent  precaution.  All  that  is  thus  taken  is  so  much  wrested 
from  the  hand  of  industry  and  enterprise,  and  given  to  the  devouring  ele¬ 
ment.  It  is  lost  to  the  country.  Individuals  suffer  more  or  less,  but  no 
one  is  a  gainer.  The  destructive  hurricane  purifies  the  atmosphere,  and 
the  carcasses  that  moulder  on  the  battle  field  enrich  the  soil ;  but  the  wealth 
ingulfed  in  the  bosom  of  the  waters  yields  no  fruit,  nor  does  the  corpse 
of  the  hapless  voyager,  mouldering  in  an  obscure  grave,  on  the  borders  of 
a  Western  river,  add  a  flower  to  the.  wilderness. 

The  length  of  the  rivers  which  we  propose  to  have  improved  at  the  na¬ 
tional  charge  is  worthy  of  consideration.  Without  burdening  this  memo¬ 
rial  with  unnecessary  details,  upon  a  subject  of  general  notoriety,  we  may 
state,  in  round  numbers,  that  the  length  of  the  Ohio,  from  Pittsburg  to  its 
mouth,  is  1,000  miles  ;  and  that  the  length  of  the  Mississippi,  from  the  falls 
of  St.  Anthony  to  the  ocean,  is  2,000  miles’ — giving  an  extent  of  3,000 
miles  for  the  principal  rivers,  the  improvement  of  which  we  ask  by  the 
General  Government.  But  in  showing  the  national  character  of  this  nav¬ 
igation,  and  its  importance  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  ocean,  we  add 
for  the  navigable  length  of  the  Missouri  3,000  miles,  and  for  the  aggregate 
navigable  extent  of  all  the  tributaries  which  pour  their  freights  into  these 
principal  rivers  6,000  miles  more,  making  the  whole  extent  of  navigation 
12,000  miles.  The  policy  which  would  consider  a  connected  chain  of  nav¬ 
igation  of  12.000  miles  in  extent,  and  spread  over  an  area  of  432,000  square 
miles,  of  unexampled  fertility  and  boundless  resources,  as  of  local  or  sec¬ 
tional  interest,  must  be  narrow  indeed.  But  if  we  are  to  consider  the  ex¬ 
tent  of  this  navigation,  in  competition  with  the  line  of  the  sea  coast  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  vindicating  our  claim  to  a  proportionate 
share  of  the  protection  of  the  Government,  it  will  be  necessary  to  double 
its  length,  as  our  navigation  has  a  double  coast,  and  we  have  24,000 
miles  of  river  shore,  inhabited  by  American  citizens,  who  are  as  much  in¬ 
terested  in  the  trade  of  these  rivers  as  any  portion  of  the  American  public 
in  that  of  the  Atlantic. 

Large  as  the  interest  would  seem  which  is  indicated  by  these  figures,  it 


5 


[179  ] 

is  even  greater  than  we  have  stated.  In  order  to  form  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  importance  of  these  great  rivers  as  channels  of  commerce,  we  must 
embrace  in  our  view  the  whole  of  the  great  system  of  intercommunication 
of  which  they  are  only  connecting  links.  They  are  but  parts  of  a  great 
whole — important  fractions  of  a  magnificent  system.  Their  most  obvious 
and  direct  connexion  is  with  the  great  Northern  lakes,  a  vast  chain  of  in¬ 
land  seas,  surrounded  by  a  productive  country,  and  already  whitened  by 
the  sails  of  a  most  valuable  commerce.  We  cannot  better  illustrate  the 
magnitude  of  this  trade  than  by  quoting  from  a  speech  recently  delivered 
in  Congress  by  a  member  from  Ohio. 

“  Mr.  Giddings  attributed  this  neglect  of  Western  commerce  to  its  silent 
and  gradual  growth.  Until  after  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  it  scarce  had 
an  existence  ;  and  the  people  on  the  seaboard  had,  even  to  this  day,  no  ad¬ 
equate  conception  of  its  extent  and  importance.  The  American  flag  had 
first  been  raised  on  Lake  Erie,  within  his  personal  recollection,  on  board 
of  a  small  schooner  of  seventy  tons,  in  1796.  In  1802  the  first  Govern¬ 
ment  vessel  was  launched  there.  Previous  to  1815,  the  arrivals  at  Buffa¬ 
lo,  now  the  queen  city  of  the  Western  lakes,  were  so  few  as  not  to  be  re¬ 
corded  ;  they  were  then  395  ;  they  now  exceed  4,000.  The  first  steam¬ 
boat  was  built  in  1818;  there  were  now  on  Lake  Erie  alone  64  steam¬ 
boats.  After  going  to  some  extent  in  these  statistical  details,  Mr.  Giddings, 
to  give  Southern  gentlemen  a  more  adequate  conception  of  what  the  West¬ 
ern  commerce  really  was,  went  on  to  state  that  in  1842  the  State  of  Ohio 
alone  had  built  vessels  of  a  larger  aggregate  amount  of  tonnage  than  Vir¬ 
ginia,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  Missis¬ 
sippi,  with  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Tennessee,  in  the  bargain.  Was  a 
navigation  like  this  entitled  to  no  regard,  no  protection  at  the  hands  of 
Government?  Including  ships,  brigs,  and  craft  of  all  descriptions,  there 
were  400  vessels  now  navigating  these  lakes  above  the  falls  of  Niagara. 
The  first  steamboat  built  at  Chicago  was  in  1832  ;  and  in  eleven  years  the 
tonnage  of  that  port  had  grown  up  to  117,000  tons. 

“  On  a  lake  coast  exceeding  5,000  miles,  there  had  been  bestowed  by 
the  Government  but  $2,400,000,  (while  in  Delaware  harbor  alone  it  had 
spent  $300,000.)  Of  this  coast,  240  miles  belonged  to  the  State  of  Ohio, 
and  it  had  received  but  $423,000.  Lake  Erie  had  no  natural  harbor  on 
all  its  southern  coast,  insomuch  that  Perry’s  fleet  had  to  lie  for  protection 
under  some  little  islands  near  the  head  of  the  lake:  The  mouths  of  the 
rivers  were  open  in  the  spring,  but  as  soon  as  the  freshets  subsided,  the 
strength  of  the  stream  was  no  longer  sufficient  to  force  its  way  into  the 
lake ;  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  by  midsummer  a  bar  of  sand 
was  deposited  all  across  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  so  that  a  man  might 
walk  across  dry  shod.  When  a  good  harbor  had  been  made  by  project¬ 
ing  parallel  piers  into  the  lake,  as  at  Cleveland,  vessels  of  six  or  seven  hun¬ 
dred  tons  could  enter  at  all  times  without  the  least  difficulty. 

“  Mr.  Giddings  here  went  on  to  enumerate  the  harbors  where  improve¬ 
ments  of  this  kind  had  been  made  or  commenced,  but  all  abandoned  in 
1838  ;  in  consequence  of  which,  all  that  had  been  done  went  to  ruin,  and 
some  of  the  harbors  were  entirely  closed.  From  1S25  to  1838  these  im¬ 
provements  were  made  the  care  of  the  Government,  and  appropriations 
were  from  time  to  time  made,  and  economically  applied.  The  people  were 
satisfied  and  grateful;  but  in  1838  the  very  tools  necessary  to  preserve 
what  had  been  done  were  publicly  sold,  the  Government  expressly  re  com- 


[  179  ] 


6 


mending  that  these  works  be  abandoned.  The  people  then  learned  what 
they  had  to  expect.” 

The  Buffalo  Commercial  Advertiser  furnishes  the  very  interesting  statis¬ 
tics  below,  showing  the  amount  of  merchandise  and  furniture  which  passed 
that  great  key  of  the  lakes  in  the  past  year.  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
all  receive  goods  through  other  routes.  Michigan  receives  hers  almost 
exclusively  through  Lake  Erie. 

The  tolls  show  conclusively  that  the  stream  of  emigration  is  to  Wisconsin ; 
but  that  Ohio  is  the  great  consumer  of  merchandise. 

“  The  quantity  of  merchandise  and  furniture  arriving  here  and  passing 
westward  is  one  of  the  best  criterions  of  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the 
interior.  In  connexion  with  our  table  of  canal  exports,  we  gave  the  ag¬ 
gregate  of  merchandise  received.  The  ultimate  destination  of  this  prop¬ 
erty,  and  the  families  accompanying  it,  exhibit  fully  the  leading  points  of 
emigration  during  the  past  season. 

“  Of  the  merchandise,  Ohio  has  received  much  the  greatest  quantity, 
while  the  heaviest  aggregate  of  furniture  has  gone  toward  Wisconsin. 
The  annexed  table  shows  this : 

“  Exhibit  of  merchandise  and  furniture  passing  westward  in  1843. 


States,  &c. 

Merchandise. 

Furniture. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

Ohio  ----- 

29,056,8  65 

1,384,372 

Michigan  ----- 

16,505,281 

1,492,627 

Illinois  ----- 

6,954,903 

1,275,377 

Wisconsin  ----- 

5,730,523 

2,630,190 

Indiana  -  '  - 

4,511,301 

249,936 

Pennsylvania  - 

152,023 

51,664” 

The  exports  of  wheat  and  flour  from  four  ports  upon  the  lakes,  viz  : 
Cleveland,  Detroit,  Sandusky,  and  Chicago,  in  1843,  amounted  to  the  fol¬ 
lowing  aggregate  :*  Wheat,  1,894,992  bushels  ;  and  flour,  812,903 — worth 
about  four  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars. 

The  value  of  all  the  exports  from  Cleveland  alone,  for  the  year  1843,  was 
five  and  a  half  millions. 

The  States  immediately  adjacent  to  these  lakes,  and  directly  interested 
in  their  navigation,  are  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
and  Michigan,  all  of  which  have  been  enumerated  in  a  foregoing  part  of 
this  memorial  as  being  directly  interested  in  the  navigation  of  the  Western 
rivers,  except  New  York  and  Michigan.  These  two  States  contained  to¬ 
gether,  in  1840,  a  population  of  2,641,1S8,  which,  added  to  that  of  the 
States  whose  borders  are  washed  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries, 
gives  a  total  of  11,078,967,  and  shows  the  important  fact  that  eleven  out 
of  the  seventeen  millions  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  are  di¬ 
rectly  interested  in  these  two  great  links  of  the  vast  interior  chain  of  com¬ 
munication. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  form  in  which  we  recognise  the  intimate  connexion 


7 


[  179  ] 

of  these  parts.  If  we  take  our  position  at  the  busy  harbor  of  Buffalo, 
and  behold  her  quays  crowded  with  merchandise  and  passengers ;  if  we 
extend  our  observation  along  the  great  railway  and  canal  to  Albany,  and 
thence  by  the  Hudson  to  New  York,  and  the  railway  to  Boston,  we  be¬ 
hold  an  inland  thoroughfare  of  unrivalled  extent  and  magnificence,  cre¬ 
ated  by  a  vast  expenditure  of  treasure,  and  an  unsurpassed  exertion  of 
genius,  enterprise,  and  public  spirit ;  and  we  see  this  long  line  of  transit 
crowded  with  a  busy  throng  of  human  beings  and  rich  freights  of  mer¬ 
chandise.  To  what  end  were  millions  of  dollars  expended  in  the  con¬ 
struction  of  these  highways,  and  why  are  they  thus  frequented  by  busy  thou¬ 
sands  of  human  beings  ?  It  is  the  road  to  the  West ;  those  countless  tons 
of  freight  are  the  products  of  our  rich  plains,  or  the  returns  of  foreign 
merchandise,  which  are  destined  to  traverse  our  lakes  and  rivers.  It  is  a 
.part  of  that  great  inland  trade  which  has  grown  up  within  the  memory  of 
living  men,  and  has  become  the  pride  of  our  country,  its  paramount  in¬ 
terest,  the  muscle  and  sinew  of  its  power. 

We  cannot  separate  these  interests.  It  is  impossible  to  consider  these 
great  arterial  channels  without  perceiving  their  connexion  with  each  other, 
and  tracing  their  ramification  to  the  utmost  extremities  of  our  country. 
The  West  is  no  longer  a  frontier  ;  it  is  the  heart  of  the  Union.  This  is  not 
only  geographically  true,  but  it  is  true  in  every  sense.  The  centre  of  pop¬ 
ulation,  of  production,  and  of  consumption,  is  here.  We  furnish  the  greater 
portion  of  the  exports  and  consume  the  greater  portion  of  the  imports 
that  make  up  the  sum  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  nation.  Our  rivers 
are  no  longer  margined  by  silent  forests ;  cities,  towns,  villages,  and  culti¬ 
vated  fields,  enliven  their  shores,  and  bear  testimony  to  the  industry,  re¬ 
sources,  and  refinement  of  the  country. 

We  have  said  that  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  are  but  parts  of  a  great 
chain  of  inland  communication.  Their  tributaries  penetrate  every  West¬ 
ern  State,  and  disseminate  throughout  the  whole  of  our  broad  plain  the 
advantages  of  this  navigation ;  and  should  Congress  carry  forward,  with 
the  spirit  worthy  of  a  great  nation,  the  work  of  improving  the  Mississippi 
and  Ohio,  it  will  not  be  long  before  every  river  in  the  West  will  be  cleared 
of  obstructions  by  the  action  of  the  General  or  State  Governments,  and 
the  magnificent  spectacle  will  be  presented  to  the  world,  of  an  uninter¬ 
rupted  inland  navigation  of  more,  than  twenty  thousand  miles  in  extent, 
within  the  bosom  of  a  great  continent,  far  removed  from  the  sea  coast,  and 
independent  of  the  estuaries  and  inlets  of  the  ocean  ! 

Nor  is  the  conception  of  this  great  highway  complete,  until  we  trace  it 
to  its  extremities.  In  the  South,  it  connects  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in 
latitude  29° ;  in  the  North,  it  falls  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  communicates  with 
the  whole  southern  boundary  of  the  Canadas,  and  stretches  off  into  the 
Atlantic  ocean  in  latitude  50° ;  and  it  extends  through  Lake  Superior, 
through  a  long  chain  of  lakes  and  rivers,  far  beyond  the  utmost  bounds  of 
civilization  in  the  Northwest.  On  the  East,  it  connects  itself  by  canals  and 
railroads,  already  mentioned,  with  the  sea  ports  of  the  Eastern  and  Mid¬ 
dle  States,  while  on  the  West  its  advantages  are  extended  by  the  long  chan¬ 
nels  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri,  the  Arkansas,  and  Red  rivers,  beyond 
the  inhabited  regions  of  the  United  States.  From  large  portions  of  our 
country,  it  is  the  highway  that  must  be  travelled  to  Texas,  to  Oregon,  and 
to  Canada ;  it  bears  the  freights  intended  for  our  commerce  with  Santa  Fe, 
the  products  of  the  fur  trade  from  the  regions  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  and 


8 


t  179  ] 


the  traffic  with  all  the  Indian  tribes  upon  our  borders.  Such  is  the  char¬ 
acter  and  magnitude  of  the  grand  thoroughfare  which  we  ask  the  nation 
to  open  and  improve  by  its  treasure,  and  such  the  trade  for  which  we  in¬ 
voke  the  parental  care  of  the  Government. 

The  number  of  steamboats  employed  at  this  time  in  navigating  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi  and  its  tributaries  is  450.  The  average  burden  of  these  boats  is 
200  tons  each,  making  an  aggregate  of  90,000  tons ;  and  their  aggregate 
value,  at  $80  per  ton,  is  $7,200,000.  Many  of  these  are  fine  vessels,  af¬ 
fording  the  most  elegant  accommodations  for  passengers,  and  which  will 
compare  favorably,  in  beauty  of  model,  completeness  of  finish,  and  all  other 
particulars,  with  the  best  packets  in  any  part  of  the  world. 

The  number  of  persons  engaged  in  navigating  our  steamboats  varies 
from  twenty  to  fifty  for  each  boat.  The  average  is  about  thirty-five  per¬ 
sons,  which  will  give  a  total  of  15,750  persons  embarked  in  this  naviga¬ 
tion. 

It  appears,  from  the  reports  of  the  Louisville  and  Portland  canal,  that 
more  than  700  flat  boats  have  passed  that  canal  in  one  year.  At  this  rate, 
there  cannot  be  less  than  4,000  descending  the  Mississippi,  and  allowing  five 
men  to  each  boat,  there  are  20,000  persons  engaged  in  this  branch  of  the 
navigation.  The  cost  of  these  boats  is  $420,000,  >vhic.h,  as  they  do  not  re¬ 
turn,  is  an  annual  expense,  and  the  expense  of  loading,  navigating^  and 
unloading  them,  is  $960,000 — making  the  whole  annual  expenditure  upon 
this  class  of  boats  $1,380,000. 

In  1834,  the  number  of  steamboats  in  existence  on  the  Western  waters 
was  230,  and  they  were  estimated  to  carry  39,000  tons.  The  expense  of 
running  them  was  put  down  as  follows : 

60  boats  over  200  tons,  ISO  running  days,  at  $140  per  day  -  $1,512,000 

70  boats  from  120  to  200  tons,  240  running  days,  at  $90  per 

day  -------  1,512,000 

100  boats  under  120  tons,  270  running  days,  at  $60  per  day  1,620,000 


Total  yearly  expenses  -  -  4,645,000 

y 

This  calculation,  applied  to  the  present  number  of  boats,  would  result 
as  follows  : 

110  boats  over  200  tons,  180  running  days,  at  $140  per  day  $2,772,000 
140  boats  from  120  to  200  tons,  240  running  days,  at  $90 

per  day  -------  3,024,000 

200  boats  under  120  tons,  280  running  days,  at  $60  per  day  3,240,000 


Total  -  -  -  -  9,036,000 


This  sum  may  be  reduced  to  the  different  items  producing 
lowing  proportions  : 

For  wages,  36  per  cent.,  equal  to  - 
For  wood,  30  per  cent.,  equal  to  - 
For  provisions,  18  per  cent.,  equal  to 
For  contingencies,  16  per  cent.,  equal  to  - 


it,  in  the  fol- 

$3,252,960* 

2,710,800 

1,626,480 

1,445,760 


Total 


9,036,000 


9  [  179  J 

To  this  is  to  be  added,  for  insurance,  15  per  cent.,  on 

$7,200,000  -  $1,080,000 
Tolls  of  the  Louisville  and  Portland  canal  -  250,000 

Interest  on  the  investment,  $7,200,000,  at  6  per  cent.  -  432,000 

Wear  and  tear  of  the  boats,  20  per  cent.  -  1,440,000 


Total  ------  12,238,000 

Add  for  the  flat  boats,  as  above  *  1,380,000 


Total  annual  cost  of  transportation  -  13,618,000 


The  rapid  increase  of  this  commerce  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
facts : 

Previous  to  the  adoption  of  the  steamboat  navigation,  say  in  1817,  the 
whole  commerce  from  New  Orleans  to  the  upper  country  was  carried  in 
about  twenty  barges,  averaging  100  tons  each,  and  making  but  one  trip  per 
year.  The  number  of  keel  boats  employed  on  the  upper  Ohio  could  not 
have  exceeded  150,  carrying  30  tons  each,  and  making  the  trip  from  Pitts¬ 
burg  to  Louisville  and  back  in  two  months,  or  about  three  voyages  in 
the  season.  The  tonnage  of  all  the  boats  ascending  the  Ohio  and  lower 
Mississippi  was  then  about  6,500. 

In  1834,  the  number  of  steamboats  was  230,  and  the  tonnage  equal  to 
about  39,000  tons  ;  and,  in  1842,  the  number  of  boats  is  450,  and  their 
burden  90,000  tons. 

In  1842  it  was  calculated  that  the  whole  number  of  persons  deriving 
subsistence  from  this  navigation,  including  the  crews  of  steam  and  flat  boats, 
mechanics  and  laborers  employed  in  building  and  repairing  boats,  wood 
cutters,  and  persons  employed  in  furnishing,  supplying,  loading  and  un¬ 
loading  these  boats,  was  90,000.  As  the  number  of  boats  has  doubled 
since  that  time,  the  number  of  people  directly  engaged  in  and  about  this 
navigation  is  not  less  than  180,000 ;  but  who  shall  place  a  limit  to  the 
numbers  who  are  beneficially  interested  in  a  business  which  distributes  its 
millions  of  dollars  for  wood,  its  millions  for  wages,  its  millions  for  provi¬ 
sions,  its  millions  for  machinery  and  the  labor  of  mechanics,  and  which 
transports  a  commerce  whose  value  can  only  be  computed  by  hundreds  of 
millions  ? 

The  whole  number  of  steamboats  constructed  at  Cincinnati  in  1843  was 
45  ;  the  aggregate  amount  of  their  tonnage  is  12,035  tons,  and  their  cost 
$705,000  ;  which  gives  an  average  of  267  tons  for  each  boat,  and  about 
$16,000  for  the  cost  of  each. 

The  models  of  these  boats,  as  well  as  their  finish  and  accommodations, 
evince  a  progressive  improvement  upon  the  boats  of  forme*  years.  They 
have  more  length  and  less  draught,  and  are  faster  than  the  last  generation,, 
while  the  hulls  are  more  stanch,  though  they  contain  less  weight  of  timber. 
The  cabins  are  not  so  gaudy  and  expensive  as  those  of  the  old  boats,  while  , 
they  are  greatly  superior  in  comfort  and  convenience.  The  average  cost 
is  about  seventy-two  dollars  per  ton,  which  is  a  great  reduction  from  former 
prices. 

All  the  work  of  these  boats  is  done  at  Cincinnati,  and  gives  employment 
to  boat  builders,  carpenters,  joiners,  engine  makers,  blacksmiths,  copper¬ 
smiths,  painters,  upholsterers,  cabinet  makers,  chair  makers,  and  some  other 
mechanics. 


10 


[  179  ] 

There  have  been  steadily  employed  at  the  Cincinnati  ship  yards,  during 
the  year,  in  the  heavier  portions  of  the  work : 

320  hands  at  the  boat  yards. 

200  joiners. 

200  engine  and  foundry  men. 

50  painters. 


770 


Within  the  same  year  there  have  been  built  at  Louisville,  New  Albany 
and  Jeffersonville,  35  boats,  of  7,406  tons,  which  cost  $700,000.  These 
boats  would  cost  $20,000  each,  would  average  211  tons,  and  would  cost 
about  $95  per  ton. 

And  there  have  been  built  at  Pittsburg,  in  the  same  year,  25  boats,  of 
4,347  tons,  of  which  the  cost  is  not  given.  The  average  tonnage  of  the 
boats  is  about  173  tons. 

The  aggregate  of  the  boats  built  in  1843  is  nearly  as  follows  : 


Boats. 

Tons. 

Cincinnati  - 

45 

12,035 

Louisville,  New  Albany,  and  Jeffersonville 

35 

7,406 

Pittsburg  ■-  - 

25 

4,347 

Add  for  all  other  places  -  -  - 

15 

3,000 

■ 

26,788 

The  whole  tonnage  of  the  Western  boats  previous  to  1843  being  90,000 
tons,  and  the  annual  loss  by  destruction  and  superannuation  being  twenty 
per  cent.,  the  decrease  by  the  latter  cause  for  1843  was  IS, 000  tons,  and 
the  increase  26,78S  tons — making  a  nett  increase  of  8,788  tons. 

It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  placed  the  tonnage  of  our  Western  boats 
at  90,000  tons.  This  was  considered  to  be  the  real  aggregate  of  the  ton¬ 
nage,  when  the  first  edition  of  this  memorial  was  prepared,  in  the  winter 
of  1842-?43.  We  have  since  that  time  had  access  to  official  returns, 
published  under  the  sanction  of  Congress,  showing  the  tonnage-  of  the 
West  to  have  been  much  larger,  even  at  that  time,  than  we  stated  it  to  be ; 
but,  as  we  had  based  all  our  calculations  on  the  amount  stated  by  us,  we 
have  not,  in  this  edition,  altered  the  statement  alluded  to,  but  shall  add 
such  additional  information  as  we  have  obtained. 

By  the  official  returns,  it  appears  that  the  whole  steamboat  tonnage  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  last  day  of  September,  1842,  was  218,994  tons ; 
which  may  be  divided  as  follows,  setting  down  the  figures  as  we  find  them, 
in  the  returns,  and  only  transposing  them  so  as  to  arrange  them  under  the 
appropriate  heads  : 


WEST. 


New  Orleans 
St.  Louis  - 
Cincinnati 
Pittsburg  - 
Louisville 
Nashville  - 


Tons. 

-  80,993 

-  14,725 

-  12,025 

-  10,107 

*  4,618 

3,810 


126,278 


11 


[  179  ] 


Tons. 

8,212 

3,296 

2,315 

1,970 

1,859 


17,652 


Tons. 

35,260 

7,143 

6,982 

4,578 

3,289 

2,854 

2,606 

1,418 

1,362 

3,395 

1,212 

1,178 

1,120 

4,767 


76,064 


The  steamboat  tonnage  belongs  to  the  internal  commerce  of  this  country, 
as  we  have  no  steam  vessels  engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  except  two  or 
three  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Of  the  whole  218,994  tons,  it  appears  that 
two-thirds  belong  to  the  West ;  and  as  a  portion  of  the  other  tonnage  is 
employed  on  routes  leading  to  the  West,  and  connecting  with  our 
highways,  the  commerce  of  the  West  may  be  safely  stated  as  amounting 
to  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  commerce  of  the  Union. 

Estimating  the  number  of  steamboats  from  their  average  tonnage,  there 
must  be  one  thousand  in  the  United  States,  of  which  six  hundred  belong 
to  the  West. 

The  table  of  tonnage  above  given  shows  where  this  vast  commercial 
marine  is  employed.  First,  on  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  next  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  then  on  the  lakes.  From  the  port  of  New  York, 
there  are  some  70  or  80  steamboats  constantly  running ;  while  on  the 
lakes  there  are  hundreds.  In  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  number  of 
steamboats  now  employed  is  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  those  employed 
in  England  proper.  This  will  appear  from  the  following  statement,  ex¬ 
tracted  from  McCulloch's  Gazetteer,  of  the  steamboat  tonnage  of  Great 
Britain  in  1834  : 


Buffalo 
Detroit 
Prequ’isle 
Oswego  - 
Cuyahoga 


OTHER. 

New  York  - 

Baltimore  - 

Mobile  .... 

Philadelphia  - 

Charleston  - 

Newbern  - 

Perth  Amboy  - 

Appalachicola  - 

Boston  - 

Norfolk  - 

Wilmington  - 

Georgetown  - 

Newark  - 

Miscellaneous  - 


NORTHWEST- 

*  " 


C  179  3 

England 

12 

» 

Steam  ships. 
434 

Tonnage. 

43,877 

Scotland 

- 

- 

105 

13,113 

Ireland 

- 

«r 

S4 

17,674 

British  dependencies 

- 

m*  a» 

49 

8,032 

Total 

- 

- 

722 

82,716 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  steamboat  tonnage  of  the  Mississippi  valley 
exceeds,  by  40,000  tofts,  the  entire  steamboat  tonnage  of  the  British  em¬ 
pire.  In  other  words,  the  steamboat  tonnage  of  Great  Britain  is  only  two- 
thirds  that  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  The  magnitude  of  this  fact  will  be 
best  seen  by  considering  that  the  entire  tonnage  of  the  United  States  is 
but  two-thirds  that  of  Great  Britain — showing  that  this  proportion  is  ex¬ 
actly  reversed  in  Western  steamboat  trade. 

Not  only  is  the  building  of  steamboats  increasing  every  year,  but  every 
year  is  opening  new  channels  of  trade  and  navigation.  In  the  last  year, 
the  river  Platte  was  navigated  by  a  steamboat  for  the  first  time ;  and  it 
will  not  be  long  before  the  Yellowstone,  the  Arkansas,  Red  river,  and 
the  Missouri,  will  employ  more  boats  than  are  now  floating  on  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi. 

In  estimating  the  value  of  the  property  floating  upon  the  Ohio  and  Mis¬ 
sissippi  at  one  time,  or  within  any  given  period,  much  must  be  left  to  con¬ 
jecture,  as,  under  our  happy  form  of  Government,  no  portion  of  it  is  sub¬ 
ject  to  entry  at  a  custom-house,  or  liable  to  any  official  registry,  which 
would  place  on  record  the  accurate  statistics  of  this  commerce.  But  we 
are  not  left  entirely  without  data  from  which  to  form  an  estimate  ap¬ 
proximating  the  true  amount.  We  know  that  this  trade  is  carried  on  by 
means  of  450  steamboats,  of  90,000  tons  burden,  some  of  which,  as  the 
larger  boats  running  to  New  Orleans,  from  the  more  distant  ports,  make 
from  eight  to  fifteen  trips  per  year.  The  boats  carrying  the  vast  trade  from 
Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  and  Louisville,  to  and  from  St.  Louis,  make  thirty 
trips,  while  a  great  number  of  boats  ply  between  less  distant  points,  and 
make  their1  trips  more  frequently.  If,  however,  we  suppose  that  the  aver¬ 
age  number  of  trips  is  twenty,  our  whole  number  of  boats  have  the  capa¬ 
city  to  carry  1,800,000  tons  per  annum.  To  this  would  be  added  the 
freights  of  4,000  flat  boats,  carrying,  at  an  average  of  75  tons  each,  300,000 
tons,  and  bringing  the  whole  annual  tonnage  to  more  than  two  millions, 
if  the  steamboats  always  carried  full  cargoes,  which,  however,  is  far  from 
being  the  case.  But  the  fact  that  our  boats  are  capable  of  carrying  that 
Amount  of  freights,  and  that  they  find  suflicient  business  to  keep  them 
employed,  forms  an  important  link  in  the  series  of  facts  from  which  we 
form  our  estimate. 

The  actual  amount  of  imports  into  New  Orleans,  by  the  descending 
trade  of  the  Mississippi,  is  another  important  element  in  this  calculation. 
This  we  obtain  from  a  list  published  annually  in  that  city,  and  obtained 
from  the  daily  reports  of  the  wharf  masters  of  the  packages  and  merchan¬ 
dise  actually  landed.  Taking  the  year  from  September  J,  1S41,  to  August 
31,  1842,  estimating  the  supposed  contents  of  the  packages  of  which  the 
contents  are  not  actually  stated  or  known,  and  affixing  the  present  re¬ 
duced  prices,  we  find  that  the  imports,  as  stated  in  this  list,  amount  to 
$35,764,477  36. 


13 


C  179  1 

Another  mode  of  deciding  the  amount  of  this  trade  is  by  reference  to 
the  number  of  sea  vessels  arriving  at  the  port  of  New  Orleans,  which  may 
be  ascertained  from  the  reports  of  the  custom-house.  These  are  not' at 
this  moment  within  the  reach  of  your  memorialists,  but  can  be  commanded 
by  Congress.  But  we  state,  on  the  authority  of  the  newspapers  of  that 
city,  that  the  shipping  in  port  at  one  time,  in  December,  1843,  amounted 
to  upwards  ot  600 — all  of  which  are  employed  in  carrying  away  the  sta¬ 
ples  of  the  West,  while  their  crews  consume  a  large  amount  of  products, 
not  included  in  the  list  of  staples.  The  country  which  employs  600  ships 
in  bearing  off  its  products  by  one  outlet,  while  it  exports  largely  in  the 
opposite  dir^ion  by  the  lakes,  canals,  and  railroads,  can  be  neither  small 
in  extent,  nor  inconsiderable  in  its  wealth,  industry,  and  resources. 

This  list,  it  will  be  perceived,  includes  only  the  more  important  articles 
of  commerce  ;  but  those  which  are  not  embraced  in  it  would  amount  to  a 
very  considerable  annual  sum.  It  does  not  include  live  stock  ;  yet  horses, 
cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs,  are  shipped  to  New  Orleans  in  immense  numbers ; 
and  the  amount  of  poultry,  eggs,*  vegetables,  and  other  provisions,  carried 
to  that  market,  from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  is 
great  beyond  the  belief  of  those  not  conversant  with  the  facts.  New 
Orleans,  it  will  be  recollected,  is  situated  in  a  southern  climate,  and  in  a 
planting  country,  where  but  a  scanty  supply  of  food  is  raised  for  home 
consumption,  and  it  is  a  seaport  at  which  the  number  of  vessels  congre¬ 
gated  at  the  business  season  is  greater  perhaps  than  at  any  port  in  the 
Union,  to  say  nothing  of  the  large  number  of  steamboats  and  other  river 
craft ;  and  the  supplies  of  provisions  for  that  city,  and  for  the  shipping  and 
boats  lying  there,  are  floated  down  the  Mississippi.  A  variety  of  manu¬ 
factured  articles  also,  such  as  machinery,  furniture,  and  many  fabrics  of 
iron,  tin,  copper,  wood,  and  leather,  are  not  included  in  the  list  referred  to. 
Cincinnati  alone  manufactures  sugar  mills  for  the  Southern  market  to  the 
amount  of  $200,000  per  annum,  a  considerable  portion,  of  which  are  ship¬ 
ped  to  New  Orleans.  Nor  does  that  list  include  any  merchandise  or 
produce  which  is  landed  without  the  limits  of  the  municipalities,  which 
would  include  the  cargoes  of  many  steamboats,  and  a  still  larger  por¬ 
tion  of  the  lading  of  fiat  boats.  Neither  does  it  include  shipments  of 
specie,  nor  the  money  carried  in  various  forms  on  board  of  steamboats. 
We  arrive,  then,  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  whole  annual  value  of  the  ar¬ 
rivals  at  New  Orleans  by  the  river,  from  descending  boats,  is  not  less  than, 
fifty  millions.  After  making  this  estimate,  we  were  gratified  to  learn,  from 
an  authentic  source,  that  an  intelligent  committee  of  gentlemen  at  New 
Orleans,  making  an  estimate  recently  from  the  same  data,  arrived  at  the 
same  conclusion. 

To  this  is  to  be  added  the  trade  to  that  part  of  the  Mississippi  called 
“  the  coast.’’  The  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  on  both  sides,  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  downwards,  receive  supplies  of  live  stock,  provisions,  machinery, 
farming  implements,  cabinet  ware,  tin  ware,  saddlery,  and  a  great  variety 
of  fabrics,  from  the  more  northern  states.  The  population  thus  supplied 
is  not  less  than  one  million  of  souls,  who  receive  all  the  luxuries  and  most 
of  the  necessaries  of  life  by  way  of  these  rivers. 

A  still  more  important  addition  is  the  trade  which  passes  from  town  to 


*  It  is  a  fact  that  one  individual  at  Cincinnati  has  negotiated  drafts  through  the  banks  to  the  an¬ 
nual  amount  of  from  $20,000  to  $25,000,  or  the  proceeds  of  eggs  shipped  from  that  place  to  New 
Orleans.  • 


14 


C  179  ] 

town,  and  from  State  to  State,  throughout  the  West,  and  which  is  indepen¬ 
dent  of  what  are  termed  exports  or  imports.  It  is  difficult  to  form  any  ade¬ 
quate  idea  of  this  trade;  but  we  who  see  it  going  forward,  and  witness  the 
gigantic  means  required  to  keep  it  in  operation,  know  that  it  forms  a  large 
item  in  the  estimate  of  our  trade  and  industry.  The  population  of  the  West¬ 
ern  plain  was  nearly  seven  millions  at  the  enumeration  made  in  1839  and  * 
1840,  for  the  census  of  1840,  and  the  trade  to  which  we  now  allude  is  that  of 
an  enterprising  people,  whose  numbers  may  now  be  assumed  as  fully  seven 
millions,  scattered  over  a  continuous  but  vast  region,  embracing  a  great 
diversity  of  soil,  climate,  and  products,  and  affording  the  materials  and  facili¬ 
ties  for  an  almost  unlimited  interchange  of  commodities.  ^The  furs  and 
lead  of  the  northern  portion ;  the  iron  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
and  Tennessee  :  the  grain,  the  salted  provisions,  and  live  stock,  of  the  mid¬ 
dle  region  ;  and  the  sugar,  cotton,  and  tobacco,  of  the  South — would  alone 
furnish  the  elements  of  a  vast  internal  commerce. 

The  manufactured  articles  consumed  in  the  West  are  now  made,  to  a 
great  extent,  within  our  limits,  and  transported  to  every  part  of  our  coun¬ 
try,  and  of  course  the  raw  materials  which  are  employed  in  these  fabrics 
enter  largely  into  our  freights.  At  Cincinnati  alone,  by  an  accurate  enu¬ 
meration  made  for  the  year  1841,  it  appears  that  there  were  10,647  work¬ 
men  engaged  in  mechanical  and  manufacturing  employments,  and  that 
the  annual  value  of  their  products  was  -  $17,432,670 

And  the  amount  of  provisions,  in  addition  to  those  included 

in  the  above  estimate,  passing  through  our  city  from  the 

interior,  was  computed  at  -  -  -  -  -  6,000,000 

Making  ------  22,432,670 

After  deducting  the  consumption  of  our  city,  and  the  articles  which  are 
shipped  to  New  Orleans,  there  will  remain  something  over  $10,000,000  of 
manufactured  articles  which  are  transported  to  various  markets  within  the 
Western  States,  and  nearly  all  of  which  float  on  our  rivers. 

The  manufactures  of  Pittsburg  do  not  vary  greatly  in  amount  from  those 
of  Cincinnati,  but  in  the  $17,000,000  set  down  for  Cincinnati  are  included 
live  millions  of  provisions  and  other  articles  which  find  a  market  at  New 
Orleans,  and  which  are  included  in  the  estimate  of  the  imports  of  that 
city,  while  the  labor  and  capital  of  Pittsburg  are  more  largely  invested  in 
fabrics  of  iron,  glass,  &c.,  which  are  distributed  widely  throughout  the 
West.  The  shipments,  therefore,  from  both  places,  to  other  parts  of  the 
West,  may  be  safely  stated  at  twenty  five  millions.  Louisville  and  New 
Albany  would  furnish  five  millions  more  to  this  head;  and  if  three  points 
on  the  Ohio  furnish  thirty  millions  of  articles  to  the  trade  within  the 
Western  States,  it  cannot  be  an  unreasonable  calculation  to  allow,  for 
the  raw  materials  imported  into  those  places,  and  for  the  whole  of  this 
branch  of  trade  carried  on  between  all  other  places  in  the  West,  including 
St.  Louis,  forty  millions  more,  making  for  the  whole  of  this  interior  inter¬ 
change  of  commodities  an  aggregate  of  seventy  millions  of  dollars,  which, 
added  to  the  fifty  millions  exported  through  New  Orleans,  would  give  a 
grand  total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  millions,  for  the  annual  amount  of 
the  productions  of  the  Western  States,  which  are  freighted  upon  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi.  This  calculation  we  find  corroborated  by  that  of  an  in¬ 
telligent  committee  at  St.  Louis,  which  is  the  more  satisfactory,  as  the 


15 


[  179  1 

vastness  of  the  commerce  centering  at  that  point,  and  the  great  extent  of 
country  through  which  the  operations  of  her  enterprising  citizens  are  car¬ 
ried,  afford  them  the  best  data  from  which  to  form  a  deliberate  opinion. 

To  the  above  amount  is  to  be  added  the  value  of  the  imports  of  foreign 
goods,  which  are  floated  to  their  places  of  destination  upon  the  same  wa¬ 
ters.  And  here  it  may  be  stated,  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  the  present 
purpose,  that  if  our  exports  to  New  Orleans  amount  to  fifty  millions  of 
dollars,  our  returns  from  .the  same  point  will  equal  that  sum,  while  the 
imports  from  the  Eastern  cities,  by  the  way  of  Wheeling,  Pittsburg,  and 
the  lakes,  embracing  a  large  proportion  of  all  the  European  goods  used  in 
the  West,  will  amount  to  an  additional  sum  of  fifty  millions  per  annum— - 
making,  in  all,  one  hundred  millions  of  imports. 

In  making  these  estimates  we  feel  satisfied  that,  if  the  statistics  of  our 
trade  could  be  ascertained,  they  would  greatly  exceed  our  estimate,  and 
that  we  may  safely  assume  the  aggregate  value  of  the  property  floating  * 
on  our  great  rivers  to  be  two  hundred  and  twenty  millions  per  annum. 

The  imports  into  the  United  States  from  foreign  nations,  for  the  year 
1S41,  were  $127,916,177,  and  the  exports  $121, 851, SOS  ;  and  when  it  is 
recollected  that,  in  estimating  our  interior  trade,  we  have  based  some  of  our 
heaviest  items  upon  data  collected  three  years  ago,  that  all  our  values  are 
calculated  at  prices  greatly  reduced,  and  that  our  whole  country,  with  its 
trade  and  production,  are  in  a  state  of  rapid  progression,  it  will  be  readily 
seen  that  this  interior  commerce  is  fully  equal  to  our  commerce  with  for¬ 
eign  nations,  that  its  character  is  equally  national,  and  its  protection  equally 
essential  to  the  common  benefit,  and  advantage  of  all  the  States. 

It  is  also  true  that,  of  the  foreign  goods  imported  into  the  United  States^ 
the  West  is  the  most  important  consumer  ;  and  that,  besides  our  direct 
contribution  to  the  national  revenue  in  the  cash  paid  for  lands,  we  pay  a 
large  proportion  of  the  imposts  on  foreign  merchandise  ;  and  that  we  fur¬ 
nish  a  larger  proportion  of  the  public  revenue  than  any  other  part  of  the 
Union,  while  the  proportion  of  the  national  expenditures  made  among  us 
has  been  comparatively  trifling. 

We  do  not  make  this  comparison  invidiously,  but  in  vindication  of  our 
just  rights.  We  have  seen  the  treasures  of  the  American  people  lavished 
in  bountiful  appropriations  for  surveys  and  defences  of  the  coast,  for  the 
improvement  of  the  harbors,  for  the  erection  of  light-houses,  for  the  build¬ 
ing  of  custom-houses,  for  astronomical  observations,  and  various  other  pur¬ 
poses,  in  aid  of  the  navigation  and  commerce  of  the  ocean,  not  only  with¬ 
out  regret,  but  with  a  willingness  to  contribute  freely  to  whatever  may 
conduce  to  the  general  prosperity.  But,  while  sustaining  bur  just  propor¬ 
tion  of  the  expenditures  for  commercial  purposes  upon  one  boundary  of> 
the  Union,  and  for  the  benefit  of  one  branch  of  the  national  wealth  and 
enterprise,  we  claim  the  appropriation  of  a  like  proportion  of  the  public 
treasure  for  the  protection  of  another  branch  of  commerce,  equally  national 
and  alike  important.  We  claim  it  as  the  equitable  right  of  a  numerous 
population,  who  have  built  up  a  great  internal  empire  by  their  own  wealth 
and  labors,  with  little  aid  from  the  common  purse,  who  defended  it  during 
the  perils  of  the  war  with  their  blood,  and  are  daily  enlarging  its  bounda¬ 
ries  and  resources  by  their  industry,  their  patriotism,  and  their  public 
spirit.  We  urge  it  as  the  true  policy  of  a  wise  people,  in  reference  to  their 
own  future  prosperity.  The  West  is  the  centre  of  the  Union,  the  citadel 
of  its  power,  the  great  living  fountain,  whose  boundless  resources  are  des 


16 


/ 


C  179  ] 

tined  to  sustain  and  enrich  the  nation.  Here  will  soon  exist  the  millions 
who  will  govern  our  vast  Republic,  and  the  treasures  resulting  from  the 
labors  of  an  energetic  people,  which  must  circulate  through  every  channel 
of  commerce  and  industry  to  the  remotest  boundaries  of  our  dominion, 
and  to  every  land  to  which  the  American  flag  shall  find  access;  and  here 
should  the  nation  lay  broad  and  strong  the  foundations  of  its  future  great¬ 
ness. 

We  may  fairly  refer  to  the  prospective  increase  of  this  trade,  as  it  is 
obvious  that  it  must  not  only  be  great,  but  beyond  the  compass  of  any 
reasonable  calculation.  The  vast  amount  of  unsettled  land  of  the  finest 
quality,  and  the  tide  of  emigration  which  is  rapidly  pouring  in,  leave  no 
room  to  question  the  speedy  growth  of  the  country,  or  to  doubt  that  its 
agricultural  products  will  be  multiplied  in  an  increasing  ratio.  Another 
great  interest  is  growing  up  among  us,  which  will  vastly  accelerate  this 
process.  Already  we  manufacture  largely.  Pittsburg  and  Cincinnati,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  points,  stand  prominent  among  the  manufacturing 
towns  of  the  Union;  and  nature  has  scattered  over  our  land,  with  a  pro¬ 
fuse  munificence,  all  the  elementary  principles  and  materials  required  for 
the  sustenance  of  manufacturing  industry.  The  most  important  of  min¬ 
erals,  iron,  is  found  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio,  and  doubtless  may 
be  found  in  other  places,  of  the  most  superior  quality,  and  admirably 
adapted  to  every  purpose  for  which  that  metal  is  used.  Lead  is  equally 
abundant.  Cotton,  hemp,  and  wool,  are  among  our  staples.  The  country 
abounds  in  water  power.  The  cotton  of  Mississippi  can  be  delivered  at 
Cincinnati  nearly  as  cheaply  as  at  New  Orleans  ;  and  there  is  no  place  in 
the  Union  where  the  laborer  can  be  supported  with  greater  comfort  and 
economy.  The  pittance  which  elsewhere  will  barely  procure  the  neces¬ 
saries  of  life  will  here  spread  his  table  with  its  luxuries.  With  beef  and 
pork  at  2  cents  per  pound,  wheat  at  70  cents  per  bushel,  corn  at  12|  cents  per 
bushel,  potatoes  at  25  cents  per  bushel,  turkeys  at  25  cents,  chickens  at  8 
cents,  coal  of  the  finest  quality  at  from  6  to  10  cents  per  bushel,  and  wood  at 
$1  50  per  cord,  we  must  take  this  branch  of  industry  from  any  country 
having  a  more  steril  and  less  genial  climate.  The  raw  materal,  the  mo¬ 
tive  power,  the  provisions,  are  here  ;  the  market  for  the  manufactured  ar¬ 
ticle  is  here,  and  the  labor  will  come  whenever  we  say  that  we  are  ready 
to  give  it  employment. 

We  cannot  forbear  from  quoting  some  valuable  facts,  which  are  con¬ 
tained  in  a  late  number  of  Hunt’s  Magazine,  in  which  the  writer  shows 
the  immense  amount  of  the  agricultural  products  of  the  United  States,  of 
which  the  West  is  known  to  furnish  the  greatest  proportion : 

“Of  the  amount  of  the  several  species  of  agricultural  products  yielded 
by  the  country,  we  are  furnished  with  full  data  by  the  statistical  returns, 
.  which,  although,  perhaps,  not  entirely  accurate,  present  as  complete  a 
statement  as  could,  under  the  circumstances,  have  been  furnished.  By  a 
table  compiled  from  these  returns,  it  appears  that  we  have  produced  dur¬ 
ing  the  year  ending  the  1st  of  June,  1840,  the  products,  a  statement  of 
which  we  here  subjoin,  with  their  amount: 


Horses  and  mules 
Neat  cattle  - 


Live  stock,. 


4,333,669 

14,871,596 


17 


Sheep  - 

Swine  -  - 

Poultry  of  all  kinds,  estimated  value 


No.  bushels 

wheat  - 

Do 

barley  - 

Do 

oats 

Do 

rye 

Do 

buckwheat 

Do 

Indian  corn 

No.  pounds 

wool 

Do 

hops 

Do 

wax 

Bushels  potatoes 

Tons  hay 

Tons  hemp  and  flax  - 


Cereal  grains. 


Various  crops . 


Tobacco ,  cotton ,  sugar ,  fyc. 


[  179  ] 

-  19,311,374. 

-  26,301,293 

-  $9,344,410 


-  84,823,272 

4,161,504 

-  123,071,341 

-  18,645,567 

7,291,743 

-  377,531,875 


-  35,802,114 

1,23S,502 

628,303 

-  108,29S,060 

-  10,248,108 

95,251 


Pounds  tobacco  gathered 

- 

- 

-  217,163,319 

Do  rice  - 

- 

- 

-  80,841,422 

Do  cotton  gathered 

- 

- 

-  790,479,205 

Do  silk  cocoons  - 

- 

- 

61,552 

Do  sugar  made  - 

- 

- 

-  155,100,809 

Cords  wood  sold  - 

m 

- 

5,088,891 

Value  of  the  produce  of  the  dairy  - 

- 

- 

-  $33,787,008 

Do  do  do  orchard 

t 

•a 

-  $7,556,964 

Gallons  wine  made  - 

- 

- 

124,734 

Value  of  home-made  or  family  goods 

- 

- 

-  29,023,380 

“  He  also  states,  as  a  fact  which  has  escaped  the  observation  of  many, 
that  the  Indian  corn  raised  in  Tennessee  is  nearly  three  times  the  amount 
raised  in  Pennsylvania,  and  more  than  four  times  the  quantity  produced  in 
the  great  State  of  New  York  ;  and  yet  Tennessee,  in  the  North,  is  hardly 
looked  upon  as  an  agricultural  State. 

“  Tables  are  given  which  show  that  two-thirds  of  the  crop  of  Indian  com 
is  raised  in  the  slaveholding  States;  and  of  this  quantity  but  a  very  small 
portion  is  exported.  It  is  the  great  staple  for  the  food  of  all  classes  ;  and 
for  beast  as  well  as  man.  In  these  States  a  comparatively  small  amount 
of  wheat  is  raised,  though  the  crops  of  oats  are  large.  The  great  wheat¬ 
growing  States  are  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  Virginia,  though 
it  is  known  they  have  been  greatly  gained  on  the  past  two  years  by  Illinois 
and  Michigan. 

“  The  great  corn-growing  States  are  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Virginia,  Ohio, 
Indiana,  North  Carolina,  Illinois,  Alabama,  Georgia — Tennessee  being  the 
greatest.  In  1839  she  raised  44,9S6,00Q  bushels.  Tennessee  therefore  is 
the  banner  State  in  corn,  Ohio  in  wheat,  and  New  York  in  oats;  while  in 
the  aggregate  of  these  three  principal  grains  Ohio  is  the  banner  State  of 

2 


18 


[  179  ] 

•the  Union,  Pennsylvania  rating  No.  5  in  the  list.  New  England  stands 
very  low  in  the  scale  in  both  corn  and  wheat,  and  not  very  high  up  in  oats. 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  are  both  below  Delaware  in  their  product 
of  wheat  and  corn. 

“The  crops  of  1S42  are  estimated  at  800,000,000  bushels,  the  whole  of 
which  in  price  would  average  about  the  average  selling  price  of  corn,  or 
40  cents  per  bushel ;  which  gives  the  enormous  aggregate  of  $320,000,000, 
as  the  worth  of  the  present  year’s  grain  crops,  exclusive  of  rye,  buck¬ 
wheat,  and  barley,  which,  according  to  the  same  calculation,  is  worth 
about  $10,000,000  more,  giving  a  grand  total  of  $336,000,000.  This  is 
indeed  a  great  country,  and  in  nothing  greater  than  its  agricultural  re¬ 
sources,  which  are  but  partially  enumerated  above,  and  which,  too,  have 
hardly  begun  to  develope  themselves.” 

If  there  be  any  truth  in  figures,  we  have  here  abundant  evidence  that 
agriculture  is  the  paramount  interest  of  the  country,  the  source  of  its  com¬ 
merce,  the  fountain  of  its  wealth.  The  West  is  by  far  the  most  extensive, 
fertile,  and  productive  part  of  the  Union,  and  furnishes  the  most  valuable 
portion  of  these  products  ;  the  vast  amount  of  which  corroborate  the  esti¬ 
mate  we  have  made  of  the  value  of  our  trade.  And  we  add  the  further 
inference,  if  the  products  of  the  nation  be  so  great,  how  important  the 
great  central  avenues  by  which  they  must  find  a  market ! 

If  the  Western  rivers  are  thus  important  to  the  American  people,  in  ref¬ 
erence  to  the  facilities  afforded  to  them  in  their  commerce  and  private  con¬ 
cerns,  as  individuals,  it  is  not  less  so  to  them  in  their  political  capacity. 
Of  the  amount  of  population  which  we  have  set  down  as  inhabiting  the 
countries  watered  by  these  rivers,  4,053,731  are  inhabitants  of  the  States 
containing  the  public  domain,  and  in  which  the  nation  is  directly  interested 
as  the  owner  of  the  soil.  How  many  of  those  inhabitants  would  now  be 
settled  upon  lands  purchased  of  the  Government,  had  not  the  country 
been  made  accessible  by  the  application  of  steam  ?  The  reply  is  obvious. 
Of  all  the  elements  of  the  prosperity  of  the  West — of  all  the  causes  of  its 
rapid  increase  in  population,  its  growth  in  wealth,  resources,  and  improve¬ 
ment,  its  immense  commerce,  and  gigantic  energies — the  most  efficient  has 
been  the  navigation  by  steam.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  widely  diffused 
facilities  of  commerce  afforded  by  the  Mississippi  and  its  numerous  tribu¬ 
taries,  ages  would  have  rolled  away  before  the  great  wilderness  of  the 
West  would  have  been  penetrated  by  the  foot  of  industry ;  and  had  not 
the  noble  conception  of  Fulton,  carried  out  by  the  skill  of  the  American 
mechanic  and  the  energy  of  the  Western  people,  brought  the  steamboat  into 
successful  operation,  the  productions  of  these  rich  plains  must  have  continued 
to  be  floated  laboriously  to  market  by  the  insufficient  means  of  the  barge, 
the  keel,  and  the  flat  boat,  while  our  imports  would  have  come  to  us  bur¬ 
dened  with  a  cost  of  freightage  which  would  have  limited  the  amount  to 
an  inconsiderable  traffic ;  and  the  commerce  of  the  nation,  with  its  re¬ 
sources  derived  from  imports,  would  have  been  proportionably  depressed. 
The  sales  of  public  land  would  have  been  comparatively  small,  and  the 
millions  which  have  enriched  the  public  Treasury  from  this  source  would 
not  have  existed  as  a  branch  of  the  national  income.  Without  the  navi- 
o-ation  by  steam,  it  is  not  probable  that  the  proceeds  from  this  source  would 
nave  exceeded  the  cost  of  the  purchase  and  sale  of  the  public  lands,  with 
the  contingent  expenses  of  protecting,  surveying,  and  bringing  them  into 
market.  The  Government  is  still  the  largest  proprietor  of  Ihe  soil  on  the 


19 


\ 


[  179  ] 


Western  States,  and  is  the  party  most  largely  concerned  in  interest  in 
every  improvement  which  developes  the  resources,  stimulates  the  indus¬ 
try,  or  enhances  the  value  of  land  in  this  region.  Can  it  be  doubted  that 
an  improvement  in  the  navigation  of  our  rivers,  which  would  disarm  it  of 
its  dangers  and  decrease  its  expenses,  would  not  produce  those  beneficent 
effects,  or  that  the  Government  would  not  be  the  greatest  gainer  from  an 
expenditure  which  would  increase  her  revenue  from  foreign  imports,  en¬ 
hance  the  value  of  the  public  domain,  and  enlarge  the  federal  population? 

The  amount  of  the  lands  owned  by  the  Government,  within  the  States 
and  Territories,  exceeds  300,000.000  of  acres,  and  that,  owned  west  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Arkansas  exceeds  750,000,000.  One  thousand  millions  of 
acres  constitute  the  vast  domain,  penetrated  and  intersected  by  our  great 
rivers,  rendered  accessible  by  our  600  steamboats,  and  made  valuable  by 
the  industry  of  our  seven  millions  of  inhabitants. 

The  value  of  the  public  lands  sold  and  paid  for  in  the  eight  years,  from 
1834  to  1841,  inclusive,  was  $73,832,008  47,  and  deducting  the  sales  in 
Michigan,  Alabama,  and  Florida,  which  do  not  lie  in  contact  with  the 
waters  proposed  to  be  improved,  the  amount  of  sales  in  the  States  directly 
interested  is  $55,940,569  09.  Nearly  fifty-six  millions  of  dollars,  then, 
have  been  drawn  from  these  States  within  eight  years,  a  portion  of  which 
has  gone  to  the  support  of  the  General  Government,  and  the  remainder 
distributed  pro  rata  among  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  If  the  Western 
people  pay  annually  to  the  nation  a  revenue  of  seven  millions  of  dollars  for 
the  purchase  of  the  lands  they  occupy,  what  proportion  of  that  sum  should 
be  appropriated  by  the  Government,  in  its  capacity  of  a  land  owner  only, 
for  the  keeping  up  the  highways  which  render  those  lands. accessible,  and 
give  them  the  greater  part  of  their  value  ?  And  what  proportion  should 
it  appropriate  as  the  proprietor  of  the  countless  millions  of  acres  yet  unsold, 
the  value  of  which  is  daily  enhanced,  and  indeed  their  entire  marketable 
value  almost  wholly  created,  by  the  industry  of  the  Western  people  ?  If 
we  should  succeed  in  demonstrating  the  necessity  of  improving  this  navi¬ 
gation,  or  the  expediency  of  the  measure  as  a  question  of  interest,  can 
there  be  a  doubt  that  the  Government,  as  the  largest  proprietor  of  the  soil, 
should  bear  her  just  proportion  of  the  expense? 

But  the  nation  has  another  important  interest  in  this  improvement.  The 
report  of  the  Postmaster  General,  dated  December  2, 1841,  shows  that  the 
mail  is  transported  within  the  Western  States,  by  railroad  and  by  steam¬ 
boat,  587,309  miles,  of  which  the  portion  carried  by  railroads  is  not  speci¬ 
fied,  but  is  too  inconsiderable  to  be  worthy  of  deduction.  Large  as  this 
number  of  miles  may  seem,  it  is  small  compared  with  the  extent  to  which 
the  transportation  of  the  mails  by  water  might  be  carried,  if  our  naviga¬ 
ble  rivers  were  so  improved  as  to  afford  water  for  the  passage  of  boats 
uninterruptedly  during  the  dry  season.  The  rapidity,  safety,  and  cheap¬ 
ness  of  this  mode  of  transportation  recommend  it  so  strongly  as  to  leave 
little  doubt  of  its  adoption  wherever  the  navigation  is  such  as  to  render  it 
practicable ;  nor  can  there  be  a  rational  question,  in  our  opinion,  as  to  the 
duty  of  Congress  in  reference  to  the  improvement  of  those  great  arterial 
highways  through  which  the  mails  must  flow,  under  any  complete  and 
thoroughly  efficient  administration  of  the  Post  Office  Department. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  department  of  the  Government  which  is  interested, 
A  line  of  military  posts  extending  along  the  whole  Western  frontier,  from 
the  Southern  to  the  Northern  limits  of  the  United  States,  derive  all  their 


20 


[  179  ] 

supplies  of  ordnance,  small  arms,  military  stores  and  provisions,  by  means 
of  these  rivers,  which  also  afford  the  facilities  for  the  transportation  of 
troops.  In  the  eager  competition  among  the  numerous  places  in  the  West,, 
whose  citizens  are  applicants  for  the  site  of  the  proposed  Western  armory, 
the  relative  accessibility  of  these  points  by  the  larger  navigable  rivers  is 
dwelt  upon  as  a  prominent  topic,  showing  distinctly  the  sense  of  the  com¬ 
munity  on  this  subject.  We  have  not  the  data  at  hand  to  show  the 
amount  of  property  and  the  number  of  lives  annually  embarked  in  this 
navigation  by  our  Government;  but  there  is  no  question  that  the  stake  is 
large,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  great;  for,  although  provisions  and 
some  other  articles  are  delivered  by  the  contractors  at  their  own  risk  at  the 
places  of  consumption,  the  cost  and  risk  of  transportation  form  parts  of  the 
prices,  and  are  actually  paid  by  the  Government. 

In  case  of  a  war,  by  which  our  coasts  or  borders  should  be  assailed  in 
any  direction,  the  importance  of  this  navigation  to  the  public  would  be 
vastly  increased.  If  the  coasting  trade  should  be  rendered  unsafe,  a  large 
amount  of  the  commerce  between  the  States  which  now  floats  upon  the 
Atlantic  would  necessarily  be  thrown  upon  the  interior  channels  of  com¬ 
munication,  and  would  pass  along  our  great  rivers,  which  would  become 
(if  such  is  not  now  their  character)  the  great  central  highways  of  the  nation. 
As  the  rivers  in  question  occupy  a  central  position  in  reference  to  the  whole 
Union,  and  are  now  connected  with  all  its  extremities,  either  by  their  own 
tributaries  or  the  noble  works  constructed  by  the  States,  they  would  be¬ 
come  the  principal  ways  by  which  troops  and  munitions  of  war  would  be 
transported  to  the  points  of  danger  ;  and  not  only  the  safety  of  the  navi¬ 
gation,  but  the  completeness  and  celerity  of  the  access  from  point  to  point,, 
would  become  eminently  important  to  the  nation.  During  the  last  war 
New  Orleans  was  defended  in  part  by  gallant  volunteers  from  the  interior, 
and  that  city  would  have  fallen  but  for  the  timely  arrival  of  arms  from 
Pittsburg.  And  in  any  future  war,  the  Western  plain  must  be  the  centre 
and  main  body  upon  which  the  nation  must  rely  for  support,  and  from 
which  men  and  arms  and  provisions  must  be  drawn,  to  sustain  either  ex-, 
tremity  of  the  Union  which  may  be  threatened  from  abroad. 

But  even  now  the  Mississippi  is  the  great  arterial  highway  for  the  transit 
of  passengers  between  the  extreme  points  of  the  Union.  At  this  time  the 
actual  cost  of  a  passage  from  Philadelphia  to  New  Orleans  upon  the  mail 
route,  by  the  railways  and  roads  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  is,  for  a 
single  passenger,  $94 ;  while  the  expenses  of  a  single  passenger  between 
the  same  places,  by  the  route  of  the  Western  rivers,  is  but  $36.  If  th© 
great  Western  route,  impeded  as  it  now  is  by  obstructions  in  the  naviga¬ 
tion,  burdened  with  tolls,  and  taxed  by  exorbitant  rates  of  insurance,  is 
the  cheapest  channel  of  intercourse  between  the  North  and  the  South  by 
more  than  one-half,  can  it  be  doubted  that  it  will  become  the  chief  thorough¬ 
fare  when  it  shall  have  received  the  improvements  of  which  it  is  suscep¬ 
tible  ?  Setting  aside,  then,  the  safety  and  advantage  of  the  greater  por¬ 
tion  of  the  American  people,  which  we  think  the  Government  ought  not 
to  disregard,  these  rivers  claim  the  attention  of  the  National  Legislature, 
as  affording  the  most  important  link  in  the  chain  of  post  routes,  and  the 
most  useful  military  highway  within  the  bounds  of  the  Union. 

The  importance  of  this  navigation  and  of  its  improvement  has  not  been 
overlooked  by  the  States  which  are  most  immediately  interested.  On  the 
27th  of  January,  1S17,  a  resolution  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio 


21 


[  179  ] 

inviting  the  co-operation  of  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky,  and  Indi¬ 
ana,  in  measures  for  the  improvement  of  the  Ohio  river.  The  invitation 
was  promptly  responded  to  by  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Kentucky; 
and  in  1819  a  thorough  examination  of  that  river  was  made  by  General 
Blackburn,  of  Virginia,  General  John  Adair,  of  Kentucky,  General  E.  W. 
Tupper,  of  Ohio,  and  Walter  Lowrie,  Esq.,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  made 
a  joint  report  to  their  respective  Legislatures,  under  date  of  November  2, 
1819,  accompanied  by  elaborate  draughts  and  plats.  It  is  believed  that 
the  several  Western  States  have  caused  surveys  to  be  made  of  many  of 
the  rivers  within  their  boundaries;  Ohio  has  improved  the  Muskingum, 
and  Kentucky  is  now  engaged  in  making  slack-water  navigation  upon 
Green  river,  Kentucky  river,  and  Licking;  Indiana  and  Illinois  contem¬ 
plated  the  improvement  of  the  Wabash,  and  caused  surveys  to  be  made 
for  that  purpose,  and  the  attention  of  the  General  Government  has  been 
urgently  called  to  the  upper  and  lower  rapids  of  the  Mississippi. 

If  it  be  asked,  why  the  improvement  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  has  not 
been  undertaken  by  the  States  whose  borders  are  washed  by  these  streams, 
it  might  be  inquired,  in  return,  why  a  few  States,  of  which  these  rivers 
form  the  boundaries,  should  assume  a  work  of  such  magnitude,  and  of  so 
obviously  a  national  character.  As  well  might  the  States  on  the  seaboard 
be  required  to  erect  light-houses  and  to  improve  the  harbors  of  the  sea 
coast,  as  the  Western  States  be  left  to  open  the  navigation  of  those  great 
rivers  which  separate  States,  that  are  declared  by  the  supreme  law  of  the 
Union  to  be  public  highways  for  all  the  States,  and  upon  which  no  single 
State  nor  combination  of  States  can  place  an  obstruction  or  collect  a  toll. 

,  Being  public  highways  for  all  the  States,  and  not  lying  within  the  territory 
or  civil  jurisdiction  of  any  one  member  of  the  Confederacy,  the  navigation 
belongs  to  the  whole  American  people,  and  is  a  proper  subject  of  national 
legislation. 

But  there  are  obvious  difficulties  in  the  way  of  any  joint  or  several  ac¬ 
tion  by  the  States  in  relation  to  this  work.  If  undertaken  by  the  States, 
singly,  it  would  be  difficult  to  assign  the  limits  within  which  the  labor  of 
each  should  be  expended  ;  if  by  all,  jointly,  the  diversity  of  population, 
wealth,  and  interest,  would  embarrass  and  probably  defeat  any  attempt  to 
apportion  the  expenditure.  Popular  opinion  would  vary  as  to  the  time, 
the  manner,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  disbursement — and  while  all  the 
States  would  be  equally  able  or  willing — or  that  the  unanimous  action  of 
their  legislative  bodies  could  be  obtained. 

The  financial  resources  of  the  Western  States  are  limited,  and  have 
already  been  taxed  to  the  full  extent  of  their  ability.  Populating  with 
unexampled  rapidity,  and  spread  over  a  vast  surface,  their  unavoidable 
expenses  have  been  great,  and  their  exigencies  suddenly  created.  In  older 
communities,  public  improvements  have  grown  up  imperceptibly  with  the 
increase  of  population,  wealth,  and  refinement;  but  here,  an  energetic  and 
-civilized  population,  accumulating  rapidly  in  a  wilderness,  were  obliged  to 
create  the  institutions,  the  public  works,  the  facilities  for  intercourse  and 
civil  government,  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed.  Within  fifty  years, 
we  have  created  and  reared  up  civil  institutions  and  monuments  of  public 
spirit  and  social  enterprise,  which  in  other  countries  have  been  the  work  of 
centuries.  We  have  organized  cities,  counties,  and  States  ;  we  have  made 
roads,  canals,  and  railways  ;  we  have  built  court-houses,  jails,  schools,  and 
..churches ;  we  have  covered  a  wilderness  with  productive  farms  and  flour- 


22 


[  179  ] 

ishing  villages.  All  ibis  has  been  done  by  a  people  who  brought  little 
wealth  into  the  country,  from  the  products  of  a  virgin  soil,  and  the  labors 
of  an  enterprising*  population.  The  State  of  Ohio  and  its  citizens  have 
nearly  completed  765  miles  of  canai  and  artificial  slack-water  navigation, 
at  a  cost,  when  all  the  payments  shall  have  been  made,  of  nine  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars,  and  667  miles  of  turnpike  road,  at  a  cost  of  four  mil¬ 
lions  of  dollars,  besides  about  70  miles  of  railroad.  The  expenditures  of 
Kentucky  upon  turnpike  roads  and  slack-water  navigation  have  been  very 
large  ;  while  Indiana  and  Illinois  have  expended  millions  of  dollars  in  at¬ 
tempts  and  preparations  to  extend  great  systems  of  artificial  communica¬ 
tion  throughout  their  widely  spread  territories. 

And  we  respectfully  suggest,  further,  that  it  is  essential  to  a  successful 
prosecution  of  this  great  work,  that  it  shall  be  carried  on,  not  only  with  the 
treasure  of  the  nation,  but  under  the  direct  supervision  of  Government  offi¬ 
cers.  The  magnitude  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  wide  extent  of  territory 
through  which  it  must  be  conducted,  require  that  there  should  be  unity  i li¬ 
the  plan,  skill  in  the  execution,  and  rigid  economy  in  the  expenditures,  to 
give  it  the  full  efficiency  of  which  it  is  susceptible.  The  Government  has 
the  command,  in  its  able  corps  of  engineers,  of  all  the  talent,  experience., 
and  scientific  knowledge  requisite  for  the  work,  together  with  the  possession 
ofable  reports  and  estimates  already  made,  in  relation,  it  is  believed,  to  every 
branch  of  the  desired  improvements ;  and  in  the  known  fidelity  and  effi¬ 
ciency  of  these  officers  the  public  would  have  a  pledge  that  the  expendi¬ 
tures  would  be  made  under  a  well-matured  system,  and  with  reference  to 
public  utility,  instead  of  being  prostituted  to  sectional  partialities  or  private 
speculations. 

We  are  gratified  to  perceive  that  our  views  in  regard  to  the  agency  by 
which  this  great  work  shall  be  effected  are  in  accordance  with  those  of  the 
General  Government,  and  that  an  experienced  officer,  who  has  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  the  country,  has  been  intrusted  with  the  execution  of  the  prelimi¬ 
nary  surveys.  We  hail  this  measure  as  an  earnest  that  something  is  to  be 
done,  and  that  it  will  be  done  under  right  auspices.  We  ask  nothing  but 
what  is  practicable  and  reasonable — nothing  but  what  will  be  honorable 
to  the  country  and  permanently  useful  to  the  people  ;  and,  as  we  desire  that 
every  dollar  which  may  be  appropriated  to  a  purpose  so  truly  national  and 
so  nobly  munificent  shall  be  faithfully  applied,  we  hope  to  see  this  work 
intrusted  only  to  the  most  responsible  hands,  and  conducted  with  the  most 
rigid  economy.  And  we  feel  relieved  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  furnishing 
the  statistics  requisite  to  sustain  our  petition,  by  the  knowledge  that  several 
engineers  of  great  ability  have  been  employed  industriously  during  the  past 
season  in  making  surveys,  and  by  the  belief  that  their  reports  will  furnish 
all  the  information  desirable,  and  in  a  far  more  perfect  form  than  we  could 
give  to  it. 

The  obstructions  in  these  rivers  consist  of  rocks,  bars,  and  sunken  logs 
or  snags.  There  are  a  few  points  on  the  Ohio  river  where  rapids  are  cre¬ 
ated  by  ledges  of  rock.  The  most  important  of  these  are  at  Captina  and 
.  Buffington’s  islands,  and  Le  Tart’s  falls,  the  falls  of  Ohio,  and  the  Grand 
Chain ;  and  there  are  points  where  the  navigation  is  not  safe  for  as  much 
water  as  is  contained  in  the  channel,  in  consequence  of  the  existence  of 
projecting  rocks.  The  removal  of  rocks,  and  the  improvement  of  all  the 
rapids,  except  the  falls  of  Ohio,  could  be  easily  accomplished.  With  re¬ 
gard  to  these  rapids,  and  to  the  whole  subject  of  the  obstacles  in  the  upper 


23 


C  179  ] 

portion  of  the  Ohio,  we  beg  leave  to  refer  to  an  able  report,  made  in  1835, 
by  Lieutenant  G.  Dutton,  of  the  United  States  engineers,  which  will  be 
found  on  file  in  the  War  Department. 

The  most  important  obstruction  in  the  navigation  of  the  Western  rivers 
occurs  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  which  is  too  well  known  to  require  descrip¬ 
tion.  A  fall  of  25  feet  in  two  miles,  caused  by  a  ledge  of  rocks  extending 
across  the  river,  renders  this  obstacle  impassable  for  steamboats,  except] 
during  the  high  floods  which  occur  usually  in  the  spring,  and  continue  fora 
few  days  only  at  a  time.  These  rapids  were  formerly  avoided  by  a  labori¬ 
ous  and  expensive  portage,  extending  from  Louisville  to  Shippingport,  a 
distance  of  two  and  a  half  miles ;  but  they  are  now  passed  by  means  of  a 
canal.  This  work,  which  was  intended  as  a  facility  to  our  commerce,  and 
a  benefit  to  the  whole  people  of  the  West,  has  signally  failed  in  accom¬ 
plishing  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  constructed  ;  and  as  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  with  the  beneficent  view  of  patronizing  a  work  of 
public  utility,  became  a  partner  in  this  canal,  it  cannot  be  thought  invidi¬ 
ous  to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  to  its  deficiencies.  The  objections  to 
this  work  are : 

1.  The  contracted  size  of  the  locks,  which  do  not  admit  the  passage  of 
the  largest  class  of  boats. 

2.  The  insufficiency  of  the  construction  of  the  canal,  which  being  defi¬ 
cient  in  width  and  depth,  causes  great  delay,  and  often  serious  injury,  to 
passing  boats. 

3.  The  enormous  and  unreasonable  tax  levied  in  tolls. 

With  regard  to  the  first  objection,  we  remark,  that  the  Louisville  and 
Portland  canal  was  intended  to  be  a  national  work,  and  stands  connected 
with  the  commerce  of  the  whole  West.  During  the  greater  part  of  the 
year  it  affords  the  only  outlet  for  the  productions  of  the  larger  portion  of 
the  Ohio  valley,  and  the  only  channel  of  ingress  for  the  valuable  imports  of 
the  same  region.  Such  a  work  should  have  been  constructed  upon  the 
most  liberal  scale,  and  its  benefits  have  been  extended  to  every  class  of  the 
community.  This  is,  unfortunately,  not  its  character.  After  many  years’ 
experience  in  the  navigation  of  our  rivers  by  steamboats,  it  has  been  ascer¬ 
tained  that  boats  of  a  great  length  are  those  of  the  greatest  speed,  and  best 
suited  to  the  navigation  of  our  rivers  and  the  character  of  our  trade.  But 
the  length  which  has  been  found  most  convenient  is  greater  than  the  di¬ 
mensions  of  the  locks  of  this  canal,  and  thus  the  boats  which  are  best  adapt¬ 
ed  to  the  trade  between  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  and  other  ports  on  the 
upper  Ohio,  and  St.  Louis  or  New  Orleans,  are  excluded  from  that  com¬ 
merce,  and  a  smaller  class  of  boats,  which  are  much  less  profitable,  is  ex¬ 
clusively  employed. 

The  second  objection  is  one  of  not  less  forcible  application  to  a  work  of 
this  magnitude.  The  width  of  this  canal  is  such  that  steamboats  cannot 
pass  each  other  within  it,  nor  can  a  loaded  boat  work  her  way  through  but 
by  a  protracted  and  laborious  operation.  As  two  boats  passing  in  oppo¬ 
site  directions  cannot  enter  the  canal  at  the  same  time,  the  delays  encoun¬ 
tered  here  are  very  great,  and  add  materially  to  the  heavy  tax  paid  more 
directly  in  the  form  of  toll,  while  the  scanty  dimensions  of  the  channel,  both 
in  width  and  depth,  expose  boats  to  the  continual  danger  of  injury.  If 
there  were  no  other  objections,  therefore,  to  this  canal,  it  is  insufficient  in 
point  of  size,  and  does  not  afford  the  facilities  required  for  the  trade  at  this 


24 


C  179  ] 

time,  and  must  become  every  year  more  objectionable  in  this  respect,  in 
consequence  of  the  rapid  increase  of  our  trade. 

To  estimate  fully  the  validity  of  this  objection,  it  should  be  stated  that 
these  delays  occur  almost  daily,  during  the  busy  season,  and  vary  from  a 
few  hours  to  a  whole  day.  The  expenses  of  such  a  boat  will  be  some¬ 
where  from  $ 50  to  $100  per  day,  and  that  amount,  or  any  large  fraction 
of  it,  occurring  only  at  each  alternate  trip,  would  in  the  course  of  a  year 
form  a  large  item  in  the  account  of  a  single  boat ;  but  which,  multiplied  by 
the  number  of  boats  which  suffer  by  the  delay,  would  give  a  sum  total  of 
actual  loss  to  the  commerce  of  the  West  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  for  the 
annual  repairs  and  custody  of  such  a  canal.  It  is  proper  to  add,  that  these 
vexatious  delays  are  inseparable  from  the  nature  of  this  work,  which  is 
constructed  on  a  scale  too  limited  for  the  purposes  of  its  creation,  or,  rather, 
whose  dimensions,  originally  deemed  sufficient,  have  been  outgrown  by 
the  increase  of  the  trade  ;  and  that  we  do  not  suggest  them  as  evincing  any 
delinquency  on  the  part  of  the  company. 

The  insufficiency  of  this  canal  is  by  no  means  attributable,  as  a  matter  of 
censure,  to  the  stockholders  or  their  officers.  We  speak  of  it  only  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  wants  of  our  commerce.  The  work  was  commenced  under  the 
most  discouraging  circumstances,  ,and  was  carried  forward  in  the  face  of 
formidable  obstacles,  by  an  exertion  of  great  enterprise  and  perseverance. 
It  is  a  great  and  useful  work,  and  affords  facilities  to  commerce  which,  in 
comparison  with  the  ancient  mode  of  transporting  goods  around  the  falls  by 
portage,  cannot  be  too  highly  appreciated.  It  is  proper  also  to  state,  that 
before  the  dimensions  of  the  locks  were  decided  upon,  the  largest  boats 
then  afloat  on  the  Ohio  were  measured,  and  the  locks  were  made,  as  was 
supposed,  of  sufficient  capacity  to  pass  every  description  of  river  craft. 
The  model  of  our  boats  has,  however,  been  since  changed,  and  the  locks 
are  now  found  to  be  entirely  too  small,  while  the  vast  increase  of  com¬ 
merce  has  rendered  the  canal  itself  inadequate  to  the  great  purpose  of  its 
construction. 

But  the  third  objection  is  that  which  is  complained  of  as  most  grievous, 
and  which  demands  the  prompt  interposition  of  Congress.  In  presenting 
this  important  subject  to  the  serious  consideration  of  the  National  Legisla¬ 
ture  and  the  public,  we  shall  proceed  to  show  the  amount  of  commerce 
which  passes  through  this  canal,  the  amount  of  tolls  received  by  the  com¬ 
pany,  the  exorbitant  profits  in  which  the  Government  participates  as  a 
stockholder,  and  the  unjust  burden  imposed  upon  the  owners  of  vessels 
navigating  the  Ohio  river. 

The  following  table,  taken  from  the  reports  of  the  company,  shows  the 
number  of  vessels  which  passed  the  canal,  and  the  receipts  of  toll,  from 
1831  to  1843,  inclusive  : 


» 


25  [  179  ] 

ft 

Abstract  qf  the  boats  that  have  passed  and  tolls  received  on  the  Louis¬ 
ville  and  Portland  canal. 


Years. 

1S31 

Steamboats. 

406 

Flat  and  keel 
boats. 

421 

T  ons. 

76,323 

Amount  received. 

$12,750  77 

1832 

- 

- 

453 

179 

70,109 

25,756  12 

1833 

- 

- 

875 

710 

169,885 

60,736  92 

1S34 

- 

- 

93S 

623 

162,000 

61,848  17 

1835 

- 

- 

-  1,256 

355 

200,413 

80,165  24 

1836 

- 

- 

-  1,182 

260 

182,220 

88,343  23 

1837 

- 

- 

-  1,501 

165 

242,374 

145,424  69 

1838 

- 

- 

-  1,058 

438 

201,750 

121,107  16 

1839 

- 

- 

-  1,666 

578 

300,406 

180,364  01 

1840 

- 

mm 

-  1,231 

392 

224,841 

134,904  55 

1S41 

- 

- 

-  1,031 

309 

189,907 

113,944  59 

1842 

- 

- 

983 

183 

172,755 

95,005  10 

1S43 

- 

- 

-  1,206 

88 

232,264 

107,274  65 

13,756 

4,701  2 

,425,567 

1,227,625  20 

The  original  subscription  of  the  United  States  to  the  Louisville  and  Port¬ 
land  canal  was  $235,000,  by  which  the  Government  became  the  owner  of 
2,350  shares  of  the  stock.  In  June,  1833,  a  dividend  was  made  in  stock 
for  the  amount  of  profit  on  the  tolls  up  to  that  time,  and  interest  on  the  mo¬ 
ney  expended  up  to  the  time  of  opening  the  canal,  of  which  the  proportion 
of  the  United  States  was  552  additional  shares,  making  the  whole  interest 
of  the  Government  2,902  shares.  The  remainder  of  the  stock,  7,098  shares, 
is  owned  by  individuals,  making  the  whole  number  of  shares  10,000,  and 
the  capital  $1,000,000.  On  this  stock  the  United  States  has  received  in 
cash  dividends  $258, 37S,  being  $23,378  more  than  her  original  subscrip¬ 
tion  and  entire  advance  in  money. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  canal,  in  twelve  years,  has  more  than  paid  for 
itself  in  dividends.  The  objection,  however,  is  not  that  individuals  should 
reap  a  profit  on  their  investment,  to  which  they  are  justly  entitled,  but  that 
this  useful  and  necessary  facility  for  passing  the  falls  should,  by  being  placed 
in  the  hands  of  individuals,  be  the  means  of  levying  a  tax  on  the  trade  of 
the  river  so  heavy  as  to  be  a  burden.  To  show  that  this  tax  is  intolerably 
high,  we  state  the  following  conclusive  facts  :  A  steamboat  owned  at  Cincin¬ 
nati,  and  plying  regularly  between  this  city  and  St.  Louis,  is  obliged  to  pass 
through  this  canal.  The  boat,  being  of  300  tons  burden,  and  worth  $24,000 
when  new,  has  heretofore  paid  for  each  passage  through  the  locks  sixty 
cents  per  ton,  or  $1S0,  and  supposing  the  number  of  trips  to  be  thirty  in  a 
year,  the  tolls  will  amount  annually  to  $5,400,  which  is  over  22  per  cent, 
on  its  cost ;  and  in  five  years,  the  full  term  of  life  of  a  Western  steamboat, 
will  have  exceeded  the  first  cost  of  the  boat.  The  toll,  however,  has  late¬ 
ly,  and  since  the  above  statement  was  first  made,  been  reduced  to  fifty 
cents  per  ton  ;  and  a  boat  of  300  tons  will  now  pay  but  $4,500  for  thirty 
trips,  and  will  not  expend  her  value  in  tolls  in  less  than  five  and  a  half  years. 

We  state  another  fact,  the  particulars  of  which  we  have  received  from 
an  authentic  source,  and  which  corroborates  the  instance  given  above.  A 
boat  of  190  tons,  owned  at  Cincinnati,  has  been  in  the  habit  of  making 
her  trips  from  this  city  to  St.  Louis  and  back  in  two  weeks,  and  has  passed 


26 


[  179  ] 

the  canal  four  times  in  one  month.  Her  toll,  each  trip,  at  60  cents  per  ton, 
was  $114,  and  her  toll  for  one  month  was  $456,  or  at  the  rate  of  $5,472 
per  year,  which  is  nearly  half  the  value  of  such  a  boat.  It  may  be  said 
that  no  boat  makes  48  trips,  or  even  30  trips,  between  St.  Louis  and  Cin-  • 
cinnati,  in  a  year,  as  the  ice  or  low  water  would  obstruct  the  navigalion  at 
some  seasons,  and  at  others  the  boat  might  pass  over  the  falls.  But  this 
is  no  answer  to  our  argument,  the  object  of  which  is  to  show  that,  during 
the  season  in  which  we  use  this  canal,  we  pay  an  exorbitant  tax,  which, 
reduced  to  a  yearly  rate,  would  swallow  the  value  of  a  boat  in  a  few  years. 

This  is  a  practical  view  of  the  subject,  in  regard  to  which  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  The  passage  between  St.  Louis  and  Cincinnati  is  regularly 
made  in  from  three  to  four  days ;  and  if  three  days  be  allowed  for  lading 
and  unlading  at  each  place,  which  is  more  than  is  required,  the  fair  time 
for  the  trip,  both  ways,  will  be  two  weeks.  This  is  in  fact  about  the 
average  time  consumed  ;  and  during  seasons  in  which  the  canal  is  used 
these  boats  do  actually  pass  the  lock  four  times  per  month.  The  toll  being 
now  reduced  to  50  cents  per  ton,  a  boat  of  200  tons,  whose  value,  at  $60 
per  ton,  is  $12,000,  will  pay  for  each  passage  through  the  locks  $100,  or  at 
the  rate  of  $400  per  month,  and  $4,800  per  year. 

The  navigation  of  the  Ohio  below  Cincinnati,  and  of  the  Mississippi 
below  St.  Louis,  is  not  obstructed  by  ice  and  extreme  low  water  more 
than  four  months  in  the  year ;  the  navigation  is  open  eight  months,  dur¬ 
ing  which  time  the  boats  between  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  may,  and 
actually  do,  run,  and  are  actively  employed.  The  freshets  which  enable 
them  to  pass  over  the  falls  are  few,  and  of  short  duration,  and  should  not 
be  taken  into  view  in  any  estimate  made  for  practical  purposes  ;  the  toll, 
if  any,  should  be  such  as  the  owners  of  boats  could  afford  to  pay  through¬ 
out  the  season,  and  so  certain  that  it  could  be  calculated  in  advance  as  a 
regular  item  in  the  expenditure  of  the  boat.  Now,  if  a  boat  pass  the 
canal  four  times  in  a  month,  or  thirty-tiro  times  in  eight  months,  paying 
50  cents  per  ton  for  each  transit,  she  will  pay  sixteen  dollars  per  ton  in  the 
eight  months  which  are  comprised  in  the  running  season,  and  in  four  sea¬ 
sons  she  will  pay  sixty-four  dollars  per  ton,  which  is  the  full  value. 

The  capital  invested  in  steamboats  in  the  West  we  have  shown  to  be 
$7,200,000,  which  must  be  reproduced  every  five  years,  as  that  is  the  term 
of  the  existence  of  a  boat  ;  and  if  this  capital  be  subject  to  a  tax  of  from 
20  to  30  per  cent  in  tolls,  and  IS  per  cent,  insurance,  those  boats  which 
pass  the  canal  will,  in  five  years,  pay  double  their  cost  in  freight  and  insu¬ 
rance.  In  other  words,  a  steamboat  engaged  in  the  regular  trade  between 
Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis,  which  cost  $25,000  when  new,  must  earn 
$75,000  to  pay  her  cost,  insurance,  and  tolls,  over  and  above  her  ordinary- 
expenses,  before  she  can  begin  to  make  profits  for  her  owners.  This  ex¬ 
penditure  is  only  reduced  by  the  occurrence  of  freshets  which  enable  the 
boats  to  pass  over  the  falls,  or  by  occasional  trips  to  other  ports. 

While  our  trade  is  burdened  by  this  enormous  tax,  we  have  shown 
that,  for  the  use  of  an  insufficient  canal,  the  stockholders  are  reaping  a 
high  annual  interest  upon  their  investment,  amounting  probably  to  an  av¬ 
erage  of  12  or  13  per  cent;  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is 
a  partner  in  the  gains  of  the  profitable  stock,  having  already  received  for 
their  subscription  of  $235,000  cash  dividends  amounting  to  -  $258,378 
And  stock  amounting  to  55,200 


Making  - 


313,578 


27 


C  179  } 

So  that  the  Government  has  received  back  in  dividends  $78,578  more 
than  her  investment,  and  is  the  holder  of  nearly  one-third  of  the  shares  of 
this  money-making  corporation. 

We  repeat,  that  no  liberal  man  would  object  to  paying  a  fair  interest  on 
the  investment  of  those  public-spirited  individuals  who  have  completed 
this  useful  work  at  their  own  risk.  And  however  any  may  object,  they 
have  vested  rights  which  deserve  respect,  and  around  which  the  law  has 
thrown  her  conservative  sanction.  The  public  voice,  however,  has  con¬ 
demned  the  levying  of  a  tax  on  such  a  highway,  and  the  high  rate  of  the 
toll  has  increased  the  general  dissatisfaction.  To  remedy  this  evil,  an  act 
has  been  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  authorizing  the  canal 
company  to  appropriate  the  nett  annual  income  of  the  canal  to  the  pur¬ 
chase  of  stock,  held  by  others  than  the  United  States,  at  a  rate  commencing 
at  $150  per  share,  and  increasing  annually  by  the  addition  of  the  interest 
on  the  value  of  the  stock ;  and,  when  the  whole  shall  be  purchased,  to 
surrender  the  canal  to  the  United  States,  on  condition  that  the  work  shall 
be  kept  in  repair,  and  that  the  tolls  levied  shall  be  no  more  than  sufficient 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  custody,  repairs,  &c.  There  is  a  further  condi¬ 
tion,  that  the  United  States,  after  taking  possession  of  the  work,  shall  re>- 
port  annually  to  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  the  amount  of  the  receipts 
and  expenditures,  and  making  the  latter  body  the  judge  whether  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  the  law  are  complied  with. 

The  stock  of  the  canal  having  become  a  safe  and  profitable  investment^ 
the  inducement  to  the  acceptance  of  this  law  is  by  no  means  strong,  and 
it  would  doubtless  have  been  rejected,  had  the  stockholders  consulted  only 
their  present  interest.  But  the  universal  condemnation  of  a  tax,  which 
all  unite  in  pronouncing  insupportably  burdensome,  indicated  to  them  in 
significant  language  the  impolicy  of  provoking  a  high-spirited  people  into 
an  exercise  of  power  which  might,  by  diverting  the  commerce  into  other 
channels,  render  their  work  of  little  value.  They  reluctantly  consented  to 
carry  the  act  into  effect;  and  they  have  reported  that  471  shares  were  pur¬ 
chased  from  the  profits  of  1843,  and  that  500  shares  will  be  purchased  in 
1844. 

But  will  the  United  States  await  the  tardy  operation  of  this  law,  and 
will  she  accept  the  trust  offered  by  it  ?  If  the  nett  receipts  of  a  year  will 
only  purchase  500  shares,  it  will  take  fourteen  years  to  buy  7,000  shares- 
at  the  same  price ;  but,  as  the  price  of  the  stock  is  to  be  annually  in¬ 
creased,  it  will  take  longer.  If  the  locks  are  to  be  enlarged  by  the  com¬ 
pany,  and  other  improvements  made,  which  are  urgently  and  imperatively 
demanded,  and  these  expenditures  deducted  from  the  annual  receipts,  it 
will  take  at  least  twenty  years  to  complete  the  purchase,  and  bring  about  the 
desired  reduction  of  tolls — a  delay  to  which  the  Western  people  are  not 
willing  to  submit.  And  if  the  requisite  improvements  are  to  be  delayed 
until  the  change  of  ownership  shall  be  consummated,  the  just  expecta¬ 
tions  of  the  Western  people  will  be  disappointed,  for  no  unnecessary  delay, 
not  the  delay  of  a  year  without  unavoidable  necessity,  will  be  viewed 
with  complacency  by  those  who  are  interested  in  this  navigation. 

Neither  do  we  suppose  that  the  United  States  will  accept  the  work  on 
the  conditions  imposed  by  the  law  of  Kentucky,  and  hold  it  subject  to  the 
supervisory  power  of  that  State.  The  proposition  is  unreasonable,  and 
will  hardly  be  insisted  upon  when  its  objectionable  character  shall  be 
pointed  out. 


28 


Z  179  ] 

We  respectfully  advise,  we  earnestly  solicit,  that  an  appropriation  be 
made  without  delay  for  the  purchase  of  this  canal,  at  a  price  conforming 
with  the  value  which  the  stockholders  have  placed  upon  it  by  accepting 
the  terms  of  the  law  above  alluded  to,  and  that  measures  be  taken  to  pro¬ 
cure  the  repeal  of  any  law  of  Kentucky,  by  which  the  control  of  that 
State  over  the  work  is  reserved.  This  purchase  can  be  made,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  above  data,  for  a  sum  not  varying  far  from  one  million  of 
dollars  ;  and  by  a  further  expenditure  of  from  three  to  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  making  a  new  set  of  locks,  to  be  additional  to  those 
now  in  operation,  in  deepening  the  canal,  and  in  widening  it  in  two  or  three 
places  to  admit  the  passage  of  boats,  the  requisite  facilities  for  surmount¬ 
ing  this  formidable  obstruction  would  be  fully  and  promptly  supplied. 
The  canal  might  then  either  be  supported  by  the  United  States,  and  made 
free,  or  a  small  toll  might  be  imposed,  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  repairs  and 
requisite  attendance.  That  toll  would  probably  not  exceed  five  cents  per 
ton,  or  one-tenth  of  the  tribute  which  is  now  levied  upon  the  industry  and 
enterprise  of  the  Western  people. 

Your  memorialists,  in  making  this  recommendation,  are  influenced  in 
some  measure  by  the  consideration  that  this  work  can  be  purchased  as 
cheaply  as  a  new  canal  could  be  constructed,  of  similar  length  and  equal 
efficiency;  and  that,  such  being  the  case,  good  faith  suggests  the  purchase 
of  the  property  from  the  individuals  who  hold  it  under  the  sanction  of  a 
law  of  Kentucky,  and  in  partnership  with  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  rather  than  the  construction  of  a  rival  work,  by  which  the  value  of 
this  property  would  be  destroyed.  They  believe,  also,  that  they  would 
arrive  at  the  object  of  this  memorial  sooner  by  the  purchase  and  improve¬ 
ment  of  this  canal  than  by  the  tedious  process  of  constructing  a  new  work. 
But  if  this  purchase  cannot  be  effected,  or  can  only  be  accomplished  at  an 
unreasonable  price,  or  subject  to  burdensome  conditions  or  vexatious  de¬ 
lay,  then  we  respectfully  recommend  the  construction  of  a  new  work, 
upon  the  most  eligible  site,  to  be  selected  by  the  engineers  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  this  improvement  might  be  effected  by  exca¬ 
vating  a  channel  through  the  falls.  The  practicability  of  this  plan  has  not 
been  demonstrated,  and,  even  if  a  safe  passage  of  the  falls  could  be  pro¬ 
duced  by  cutting  through  the  rock,  we  should  deprecate  the  attempt. 
The  natural  dam  formed  by  this  ledge  of  rock  being  removed,  a  series  of 
rapids  or  bars  in  the  channel  above  would  probably  be  produced,  which 
would  greatly  injure  the  navigation. 

The  upper  and  lower  rapids  of  the  upper  Mississippi  present  formidable 
obstructions  to  the  navigation  of  that  noble  river,  and  impede  the  access 
to  one  of  the  most  productive  and  beautiful  regions  of  the  habitable  globe. 
These  impediments,  consisting  of  ledges  of  rock*  which  lie  across  the  river, 
are  extensive,  and,  during  the  seasons  of  low  water,  render  this  fine  river 
wholly  impassable  for  freighted  boats,  which  are  obliged  to  be  unladen 
and  lighted  over  the  rapids  ;  and  causing  the  expense  of  freight  to  increase 
by  double  and  three-fold  at  such  seasons.  Yet  they  are  of  such  a  charac¬ 
ter  as  to  be  susceptible  of  removal  at  a  comparatively  small  expense. 
Above  these  rapids,  the  river  is  navigable  to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  dis¬ 
tant  from  St.  Louis  nine  hundred  miles.  In  their  vicinity,  and  beyond 
them,  lies  a  wide  expanse  of  country,  embracing  a  large  portion  of  Illinois, 
Iowa,  and  Wisconsin,  of  incomparable  fertility  and  inexhaustible  re- 


29 


[  179  J 

sources — a  region  of  prairies,  teeming  with  vegetative  power,  and  ready 
cleared  to  the  hand  of  the  husbandman.  Equally  adapted  to  the  growth  of 
wheat,  the  rearing  of  cattle,  and  the  production  of  wool,  this  country  already,, 
though  in  its  infancy,  affords  a  large  surplus  for  exportation ;  and  so  vast 
is  the  extent  of  its  rich  lands,  that  the  increase  of  its  staples  is  great  be¬ 
yond  conception.  The  country  over  which,  thirteen  years  ago,  the  militia 
of  Illinois  chased  the  bands  of  Black  Hawk,  and  in  which  the  Sacs,  the 
Sioux,  and  the  Winnebagoes,  contended  for  mastery,  furnished  during  the 
past  year  the  freights  for  244  steamboats  and  55  keels. 

In  the  same  region  are  lead  mines,  in  prosperous  operation,  which  sup¬ 
ply  annually  to  commerce  40,000,000  pounds  of  lead,  included  in  the 
.  above  estimate,  worth  $1,000,000,  and  supposed  to  be  capable  of  supply¬ 
ing  that  metal  in  sufficient  quantities  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  civilized 
world,  while  the  copper  mines  recently  opened  are  also  becoming  valua¬ 
ble.  To  show  further  the  productiveness  of  a  country  so  recently  a  wil¬ 
derness,  and  still  only  known  in  that  character  to  most  of  the  American 
people,  we  state  that  in  1S40  nine  counties  in  the  southern  part  of  Wis¬ 
consin  produced  197,225  bushels  of  wheat,  25,966  head  of  cattle,  45,136 
hogs,  and  7,564  tons  of  lead.  If  such  are  the  products  of  a  small  and 
remote  district  of  a  newly  settled  land,  how  prolific  must  be  the  broad 
region  in  which  it  lies?  How  impossible  to  calculate  the  wealth  of  the 
great  West,  when  single  counties  estimate  their  products  by  such  imposing 
figures  ? 

It  appears,  from  data  kept  at  St.  Louis,  that  the  navigation  of  the  upper 
Mississippi  was  clear  of  ice,  in  1841,  eight  months  ;  in  1S42,  eight  months 
and  seven  days  ;  and  in  1843,  seven  months  and  eleven  days.  As  the 
navigation  of  this  vast  region  is  closed,  by  the  immutable  laws  of  nature, 
during  four  months  of  the  year,  the  duty  of  the  Government  is  the  more 
imperative  to  keep  it  open  during  the  other  eight  months,  into  which  all 
the  business  done  upon  its  waters  must  be  crowded. 

The  arrivals  of  boats,  from  the  upper  Mississippi,  at  St.  Louis,  during 
the  last  three  years,  were  as  follows : 

1841  -  143  steamboats  108  keel  boats. 

1842  -  -  -  -  -  195  “  88  « 

1843  -----  244  “  55  “ 

The  emigration  to  this  favored  region  is  great.  The  completion  of  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  which  may  now  be  looked  for  at  an  early 
period,  and  the  connexion  between  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox  rivers,  which 
cannot  be  long  delayed,  will  give  it  peculiar  attractions  ;  and,  as  the  pro¬ 
prietor  of  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  domain,  the  Government  is  in¬ 
vited,  by  interest  as  well  as  by  duty,  to  open  the  navigable  channels  of  the 
country,  and  thus  accelerate  its  settlement,  and  promote  the  sale  of  her 
own  lands. 

But  we  advocate  the  improvement  of  this  river,  as  well  as  the  Illinois, 
the  Wabash,  and  the  Ohio,  with  the  more  confidence,  as  two  of  them  are 
already  connected  with  the  lakes  by  canals,  and  the  other  two  will  soon 
be  similarly  connected,  and  they  are  thus  emphatically  great  national 
highways,  connecting  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East  and  the  West, 
and  bringing  distant  and  apparently  discordant  interests  into  harmonious 
co-operation. 

The  bars  in  the  Ohio  may  be  classed  :  1st,  into  those  formed  of  hard 


30 


C  179  ] 

and  apparently  permanent  gravel ;  2d,  shifting  or  loose  gravel ;  and,  3d, 
shifting  sand  bars.  These  bars  have  been  minutely  surveyed  on  several 
occasions  by  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  reports  furnish  all  the 
information  which  may  be  desirable  in  regard  to  them,  and  preclude  the 
necessity  of  any  detailed  description  in  this  memorial.  It  may  be  remarked, 
however,  that,  while  these  bars  present  serious  obstacles  to  navigation  in 
low  water,  they  seem  also  to  serve  a  valuable  purpose  in  another  respect. 
The  Ohio,  through  its  whole  course,  has  in  general  a  gentle  and  equable 
current.  In  low  water,  the  river  is  resolved  into  a  series  of  ripples  or 
dams,  with  extensive  basins  of  slack  water  between  them,  varying  in 
depth  from  two  to  five  fathoms.  It  would  seem  as  if  nature  had  formed 
these  bars  or  dams  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  the  water  above  them,  and  . 
thus  forming  a  succession  of  navigable  pools. 

Following  this  indication,  it  would  seem  desirable  not  to  remove  them, 
which  is  perhaps  impracticable,  but  to  pass  them  by  some  form  of  artificial 
channel,  which  would  not  greatly  change  the  depth  of  the  water  above. 
Experiments  having  this  object  in  view  have  already  been  made  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Government,  by  constreting  wing  dams  from  each 
side  of  the  river,  so  as  to  eonfipe  the  current  within  narrow  banks,  and  to 
give  it  a  sufficient  volume  of  water  to  wash  a  current  for  itself.  A  work 
of  this  character  was  constructed  about  eighteen  years  ago,  by  Colonel 
.Long,  of  the  topographical  engineers,  at  Henderson  bar,  200  miles  below 
Louisville  ;  and  similar  dams  have  since  been  constructed  at  French  island, 
Three  Mile  island,  Scuflletown  bar,  and  the  Three  Sisters.  These  were 
among  the  shoalest  and  most  difficult,  places  in  the  Ohio,  and  they  have 
been  greatly  improved.  We  have  little  doubt  that  this  mode  of  improve¬ 
ment,  when  prosecuted  upon  a  scale  consistent  with  the  importance  of 
the  object  and  the  liberality  of  a  great  nation,  and  reduced  to  system 
by  a  careful  attention  to  the  results  of  experiment  and  observation, 
will  be  found  successful  to  a  considerable  extent.  It  is  supposed  that 
it  may  prove  abortive  in  some  cases,  from  a  tendency  of  the  sand,  when 
washed  from  one  place,  to  deposite  itself  in  another  immediately  below, 
and  thus  form  a  new  obstruction.-  This  might  occur  in  some,  but 
certainly  would  not  in  all  instances ;  and,  if  the  original  obstruction  can 
be  removed  by  art,  the  new  creation  may  also  be  removed  by  the  same, 
or  some  other  means.  It  may  also  be  suggested,  that  many  of  these  bars, 
supposed  to  be  the  most  difficult  to  affect  by  permanent  artificial  improve¬ 
ment,  are  composed  of  shifting  ^and,  through  which  channels  are  easily 
cut,  which  would  remain  open  during  the  season  of  low  water,  but  would 
be  filled  up  with  the  same  species  of  loose  sand  during  the  floods  of  the 
winter.  It  may  be  worthy  of  experiment,  whether  at  such  places  chan¬ 
nels  might  not  be  opened  annually,  and  kept  open  during  the  season,  at 
an  expense  trifling,  when  compared  with  the  value  of  the  service.  Small 
vessels,  propelled  by  steam,  and  supplied  with  machinery  for  scooping  out 
the  sand,  would  open  channels  sufficiently  deep  for  the  smaller  class 
of  steamboats,  with  great  facility,  and  they  might  run  from  bar  to-  bar, 
throughout  the  season  of  low  water,  without  incurring  any  formidable  ex¬ 
penditure-. 

The  Ohio  river,  though  not  obnoxious  to  the  full  force  of  the  sarcasm 
of  the  distinguished  Virginian  who  described  it  as  frozen  one-half  of  the 
year  and  dried  up  during  the  remainder,  is  subject  to  vicissitudes,  which  ' 
seriously,  affect  the  navigation,  and  demand  the  national  attention,  from 
ihe  double  consideration  of  the  magnitude  of  the  evil,  and  the  vastness  of 


31 


[  179  ] 

the  means  required  for  its  correction.  If  the  work  can  be  done  at  all,  in 
a  manner  worthy  of  the  energies  of  a  great  people,  and  permanently  ad¬ 
vantageous,  it  must  be  done  by  the  National  Government. 

When  the  waters  are  low  during  the  summer  and  autumn,  this  majestic 
river  dwindles  to  a  small  stream,  and  becomes  comparatively  useless. 
Among  the  hills  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  it  is  seen  rippling  over  bars 
of  gravel  and  ledges  of  rock,  through  which  boats  of  the  lightest  burden 
with  difficulty  find  a  passage.  Further  down  a  series  of  sand  bars,  extend¬ 
ing  in  some  places  from  shore  to  shore,  and  in  others  projecting  from  the 
margin  of  the  river  far  into  its  bed,  render  its  navigation  almost  impracti¬ 
cable.  Steamboats  constructed  for  the  purpose,  and  navigated  by  skilful 
pilots,  ply  at  this  season  with  difficulty.  Many  are  grounded  upon  the 
bars,  from  which  perilous  situation  some  are  relieved  by  great  labor,  at¬ 
tended  with  serious  delay  and  expense,  while  others  remain  exposed  to 
the  elements  during  the  remainder  of  the  season,  and  are  either  lost  or  se¬ 
riously  injured.  The  larger  boats  are  wholly  useless  during  this  part  of 
the  year;  and  of  the  hundreds  of  noble  vessels  that  are  actively  plying  at 
other  seasons,  freighted  with  rich  cargoes,  the  greater  portion  are  now  idle. 

As  a  general  rule,  the  water  is  lowest  during  the  months  of  July,  Au¬ 
gust,  and  September,  but  the  autumnal  months  are  frequently  dry,  and  in 
that  case  the  river  remains  low  until  the  winter.  We  call  attention  to  this 
fact,  as  showing  the  long  period  during  which  this  valuable  navigation  is 
destroyed,  or  so  impeded  as  to  be  attended  with  great  expense  and  risk  of 
loss. 

Throughout  the  winter  the  frequent  changes  from  cold  to  moderate 
Weather  produce  rains  and  thaws,  which  occasion  a  series  of  freshets,  and 
afford  ample  supplies  of  water.  The  change  from  the  severe  cold  of  the 
winter  to  the  higher  temperature  of  the  spring  is  usually  sudden,  and 
causes  the  precipitation  of  vast,  floods  into  the  channels  of  our  rivers.  The 
snows  which  cover  the  Allegany  mountains  along  their  whole  western 
exposure,  from  the  borders  of  New  York  to  those  of  North  Carolina,  are 
rapidly  melted,  and  the  whole  of  this  mass  of  water  thrown  suddenly  into 
the  Ohio,  which  now  attains  its  greatest  depth  and  volume.  In  the  great 
rise  of  1832  the  water  rose  at  Cincinnati  sixty-three  feet  above  low-water 
mark;  the  sectional  area  was  91,464  feet,  without  including  its  extension 
over  the  lower  parts  of  Cincinnati  and  Covington  ;  the  number  of  cubic 
feet  discharged  per  hour  was  2, 9 9S, 52 9, 7 14,  and  the  velocity  of  the  stream 
was  6^  miles  per  hour. 

One  of  the  important  consequences  of  these  great  floods  is,  the  creation 
of  obstructions  in  the  form  of  logs  and  trees,  which  are  swept  from  the 
bank  and  precipitated  into  the  stream.  The  snags  which  cause  the  de¬ 
struction  of  so  many  boats  are  formed  of  large  trees,  which  are  thrown  into 
the  channel  by  the  crumbling  of  the  banks  or  the  force  of  the  current.  The 
base  of  the  stem  and  the  mass  of  roots,  rendered  heavier  by  the  earth 
which  adheres  to  them,  sink  to  the  bottom ;  the  top  of  the  tree  floats,  and  is 
thrown  into  the  direction  of  the  current;  the  roots  become  imbedded  and 
firmly  fixed;  the  smaller  branches  decay  and  drop  off,  and  the  large  limbs 
remain,  pointing  down  the  stream.  When  these  sunken  trees  are  concealed 
beneath  the  surface,  they  are  very  dangerous  to  boats,  which,  rushing  upon 
them  with  the  momentum  given  by  a  powerful  steam  engine,  seldom  fail, 
when  they  strike,  to  have  the  hull  perforated,  and  the  boat  sunk. 

This  branch  of  the  subject  has  already  received  the  attention  of  the  Gov- 


32 


E  179  ] 

ernment,  and  the  results  of  the  experiments  instituted  have  been  entirely 
satisfactory.  The  snag  boat  constructed  under  the  direction  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  has  been  successful  in  removing  these  obstacles,  at  a  very  trifling 
expense,  and  with  great  facility.  The  boat  is  of  simple  construction,  yet 
has  such  power  that  the  largest  tree,  however  firmly  fixed,  is  removed  in 
a  few  minutes.  A  number  of  these  ingenious  vessels  were  employed  for 
several  years  with  such  success  that  thousands  of  snags  were  removed 
from  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi;  the  most  dangerous  places  were  rendered 
perfectly  safe,  and  the  whole  navigation  made  completely  free  from  this 
formidable  evil.  In  the  year  ending  in  September,  1S33,  1,960  snags  were 
taken  up  from  the  Mississippi,  and  the  chances  of  danger  diminished  by  at 
least  that  number.  The  crews  of  the  boats  were  employed  within  the 
same  year,  when  the  water  was  too  high  to  permit  their  working  on  the 
bed  of  the  river,  in  felling  the  overhanging  trees  which  stood  on  banks  lia¬ 
ble  to  be  undermined,  and  removed  10,000  trees  which  must  soon  have 
been  precipitated  into  the  current. 

From  1822  to  1827  the  loss  of  property  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  by 
snags  alone,  including  steam  and  flat  boats  and  their  cargoes,  amounted  to 
$1,362,500.  The  losses  on  the  same  items,  from  1S27  to  1S32,  were  re¬ 
duced  to  $381,000,  in  consequence  of  the  beneficial  action  of  the  snag 
boats ;  and  those  losses  were  still  further  reduced  in  the  years  immediately 
succeeding,  by  the  diligent  prosecution  of  the  same  service. 

We  are  not  aware  of  the  causes  which  have  induced  the  discontinuance 
of  this  valuable  service,  but  we  know  that  the  consequences  have  been  most 
disastrous.  For  several  years  past  the  appropriations  for  the  snag  boats 
have  been  so  small  as  to  render  that  service  wholly  inefficient ;  and  the 
snags  have  accumulated  with  fearful  rapidity  in  all  the  Western  rivers, 
while  the  increasing  amount  of  commerce  and  number  of  boats  have 
swelled  the  danger  and  the  losses  to  an  appalling  extent.  In  the  memorial 
of  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  recently  published,  it  is  stated,  that  “  in  the 
year  1839  there  were  forty  steamboats  lost,  forty-one  in  1S40,  twenty-nine 
in  1841,  and  in  the  year  1842  the  number  is  said  to  be  twenty-eight — 
making  a  total  in  four  years  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  boats.”  The 
estimate  here  given  for  the  latter  year  is  far  short  of  the  truth,  for  since  the 
date  of  this  memorial  at  least  fifteen  steamboats  have  been  lost ;  indeed,, 
while  preparing  this  memorial,  a  single  mail  from  the  Southwest  brought 
intelligence  of  the  loss  of  five  boats,  four  more  were  added  to  the  melan¬ 
choly  list  on  the  following  day,  and  three  more  by  a  subsequent  arrival. 

Between  the  11th  of  September  and  the  15th  of  October,  in  the  year 
1842,  the  losses  on  the  Mississippi,  between  St.  Louis  and  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio,  a  distance  of  only  180  miles,  were  $234,000.  Within  the  suc¬ 
ceeding  17  months  there  have  been  lost  72  steamboats,  worth  $1,200,000, 
besides  their  cargoes,  which  were  of  great  value. 

The  losses  paid  by  the  insurance  offices  in  Cincinnati  alone,  on  boats 
and  cargoes,  during  a  period  of  five  years,  from  November,  1837,  to 
November,  1842,  including  only  the  losses  by  obstructions  in  the  navi¬ 
gation,  and  excluding  all  losses  by  explosion,  collision,  fire,  and  other 
causes,  have  been  $442,930  S9.  As  insurance  is  made  also  at  Pittsburg, 
Louisville,  Nashville,  St.  Louis,  Wheeling,  Natchez,  New  Orleans,  and  at  • 
some  of  the  smaller  towns,  the  above  sum  might  be  multiplied  by  seven 
to  arrive  at  something  like  a  fair  approximation  of  the  losses  sustained  by 
underwriters,  from  the  dangerous  condition  of  the  navigation,  and  the  re¬ 
sult  would  be  $3,000,000,  or  $600,000  per  annum.  If  to  this  be  added  the 


33 


[  179  ] 

,osses  from  the  same  cause,  on  which  there  was  no  insurance,  the  amount 
would  be  not  less -than  $1,000,000  per  annum.  $1,000,000  per  annum  is 
actually  taxed  on  the  commerce  of  the  West  for  losses  sustained  in  conse¬ 
quence  ot  obstructions,  which  might  be  wholly  removed  by  an  appropria¬ 
tion  by  Congress  of  a  comparatively  trifling  sum.  An  additional  fact, 
showing  the  danger  of  this  navigation,  is,  that  many  offices  have  declined 
to  insure  the  hulls  of  boats,  and  such  risks  are  only  taken  on  the  best  boats, 
and  at  rates  varying  from  12  to  18  per  cent. ;  the  insurers  are  said  to  lose 
money,  at  even  these  enormous  rates.  The  amount,  then,  of  the  annual 
risk  on  the  $7,200,000  invested  in  steamboats  alone  is  more  than  one  mil¬ 
lion  of  dollars. 

The  most  fruitful  causes  of  these  losses  ape  the  snags,  a  species  of  ob¬ 
struction  which  we  have  shown  to  be  completely  within  the  control  of  the  . 
Government  ;  and  we  therefore  respectfully ‘urge  the  propriety  of  an  im¬ 
mediate  and  energetic  action  by  the  Government  in  reference  to  this  sub¬ 
ject,  by  the  construction  of  as  many  snag  boats  as  may  be  necessary,  and 
an  annual  appropriation,  for  keeping  these  boats  in  the  regular  service  of 
the  nation,  from  year  to  year. 

We  have  thus  far  not  touched  upon  the  exposure  of  life  occasioned  by 
the  inattention  of  Government  to  this  dangerous  navigation.  There  are 
employed  on  the  60  steamboats,  and  the  4,000  flat  and  keel  boats,  that  float 
on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  not  less  than  from  45,000  to  50,000  persons ;  and 
as  all  the  steamboats  carry  passengers,  there  are  several  hundred  thousand, 
not  Western  citizens  only,  but  citizens  of  each  and  every  State  in  the  Union, 
annually  exposed  to  delay,  expense,  inconvenience,  and  jeopardy  of  life, 
from  the  causes  indicated  in  this  memorial.  And  who  shall  count  the  value 
of  their  lives?  Shall  the  lives  of  the  free  citizens  of  an  enlightened  na¬ 
tion  be  weighed  against  the  amount  of  an  appropriation  in  money  which 
would  insure  their  safety  ?  The  Romans  paid  the  highest  civic  honors  to 
him  who  saved  the  life  of  a  citizen  ;  and  if  we  admire  the  principle  which 
dictated  this  policy,  what  should  be  the  conduct  of  a  Christian  and  highly 
civilized  nation — a  nation  of  unbounded  resources  and  untiring  energy — 
in  reference  to  a  work  of  comparative  insignificance,  but  the  neglect  of 
which  involves  daily  and  hourly  the  lives  of  many  citizens  ?  The  Ameri- 
-  can  people  have  reserved,  in  their  Constitution,  the  right  of  passing  from 
State  to  State,  and  of  transporting  their  property  throughout  the  Union  ; 
and  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  Government  should  facilitate  the  exercise  of 
a  right  asserted  with  such  provident  care  ?  To  an  enterprising,  commer¬ 
cial,  and  highly  social  people,  who  travel  so  continually  and  so  extensively, 
no  subject  can  be  more  important  than  that  under  consideration. 

It  might  not  be  proper.here  to  enter  into  a  minute  description  of  a  stearn- 
•  boat  disaster  on  the  Mississippi.  The  peculiar  character  of  that  mighty 
river,  the  irresistible  force  of  the  current,  and  the  steep  and  crumbling  nature 
of  the  banks,  which  afford  but  few  safe  places  of  landing,  surround  the  dis¬ 
abling  o(  a  boat  on  these  waters  with  fearful  dangers.  When  a  steamboat 
heavily  laden,  and  crowded  with  passengers,  strikes  upon  a  snag  in  thd 
night,  and  is  ingulfed,  in  a  few  minutes,  in  the  stream,  the  scene  is  terrific 
beyond  description ;  the  loss  of  life  to  some  of  the  more  helpless  of  those 
embarked  is  inevitable,  and  the  danger  to  all  appalling. 

It  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  many  losses  occur  from  the  insufficiency  of 
steamboats  and  their  machinery,  and  from  the  culpable  rashness,  negligence, 
and  ignorance  of  those  who  have^them  in  charge.  This  is  a  subject  which  has 

3 


34 


[  179  •]  • 

excited  much  public  attention,  and  has  even  occupied  a  prominent  place  in 
the  discussions  of  the  National  Legislature.  The  result  of  the  most  careful 
inquiries  has  produced  a  general  conviction,  on  the  minds  of  those  con¬ 
versant  with  the  subject,  that  while  we  have  many  fine  boats,  managed 
with  as  much  skill  and  prudence  aslhose  of  any  other  country,  and  in  which 
the  passenger  enjoys  the  highest  degree  of  safety  of  which  such  navigation 
is  susceptible,  there  is  connected  with  the  remainder  an  inexcusable  want 
of  care  of  the  lives  intrusted  to  them.  The  unavoidable  accidents  to  steam¬ 
boats  are  few,  in  comparison  with  losses  occasioned  by  neglect  and  bad 
management  and  by  obstructions  in  the  navigation. 

To  discriminate  among  these  causes  of  loss,  and  apply  the  remedy,  is  a 
matter  of  no  small  delicacy  and  embarrassment,  but  it  is  one  which  would 
be  stripped  of  much  of  its  difficulty  if  the  natural  obstacles  which  endanger 
the  navigation  were  removed-.  At  present,  the  great  number  of  steamboat 
losses  blunts  the  public  sensibility  in  regard  to  such  catastrophes,  and 
wearies  and  baffles  that  spirit  of  inquiry  which  would  investigate  the  causes 
of  these  disasters,  while  it  affords  a  ready  excuse  for  those  who  might 
otherwise  become  the  objects  of  puolic  condemnation.  If  the  river  channels 
were  disarmed  of  their  terrors,  and  the  safety  of  boats  was  made  to  depend 
entirely  upon  the  fidelity  and  skill  of  their  construction  and  management, 
the  public  would  demand  a  much  greater  degree  of  security  than  is  now 
expected,  and  the  owners  and  officers  of  boats  would  be  held  to  a  higher 
degree  of  responsibility.  A  wholesome  moral  effect  would  also  be  pro¬ 
duced  by  the  action  of  the  Government.  So  long  as  the  Government,  re¬ 
gardless  of  its  parental  and  conservative  character,  remains  a  cold  and  in¬ 
different  spectator  of  the  destruction  of  life  and  property,  so  long  will  life 
and  property  cease  to  be  regarded  with  care  by  the  thoughtless  portion  of 
its  citizens.  In  a  country  where  public  opinion  is  the  sovereign  law,  and  . 
where  so  much  of  that  public  opinion  flows  from  the  legislation  created  by 
itself,  a  tender  sensibility  for  the  life  of  the  citizen,  and  a  decorous  respect 
for  his  property,  is  peculiarly  demanded  from  those  who,  in  making  the 
laws,  influence  the  morals  and  sentiments  of  the  people. 

In  conclusion,  we  commend  this  whole  subject  to  the  early  and  serious 
attention  of  Congress,  and  pray  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  are  de¬ 
manded  by  the  urgency  of  the  occasion,  the  vast  exposure  of  life  and 
property,  the  greatness  of  the  interests  involved,  the  honor  and  advantage 
of  the  American  people. 

JAMES  HALL,  Chairman. 

JOHN  C.  VAUGHAN. 

E.  S.  HAINES.. 

PAUL  ANDERSON. 

M.  T.  WILLIAMS. 

ROBERT  BUCHANAN. 

GEORGE  CARLISLE. 

LEWIS  WHITEMA*N. 

*  T.  J.  HALDERMAN. 

E.  D.  MANSFIELD. 

J.  G.  WOODIN. 

S.  W.  HARTSHORNE.. 

P.  ROGERS. 

JOSEPH  PIERCE,  Sr. 

JEDEDIAH  BANKS. 


Henry  Hayes,  Secretary . 


